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purplesurveys · 3 years

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1185

survey by xflirtykaosx

Alphabetti Spaghetti (3/3)

Please believe. - P

How many pages did the last book you read have? I don’t even remember the last time I opened it; but if I have to guess, it’s probably anywhere between 600–800 pages.

What do you like on your pancakes? Soaked in butter, with peanut butter and maple syrup on the side. My dad will also sometimes mix bacon into the batter, and it always turns out delicious.

Do you like small parties or large parties more? I love going to any kind of party, but I like large ones just a little bit more just because it’s easier to blend in and go unnoticed for the most part. I usually feel pressured at smaller parties.

What was the last exam you passed in? I have no idea. Maybe a history exam? I remember taking a Rizal exam right before the pandemic started and I never got the results for that since classes were canceled shortly after. I’ll never know if I actually passed that test haha.

Do you think paw prints are cute? Yesssssss.

How much would you pay a neighbour to do your lawn? We have someone in the village who does that, and my mom usually gives him a tip of I would guess around ₱100.

Ordinary pens, scented pens, gel pens or felt tip pens? Ordinary. The other ones write horribly.

Are you a people person? I’ve grown to be one over the years. I do like my alone time, but I have the most fun with a person or two or ten around me.

Do you put pepper on your scrambled eggs? No. I never use pepper myself, actually.

Who, except yourself, has the nicest pet? Angela’s, at least one of her dogs are. Hailey is super nice and she doesn’t really care what you do with her hahahaha.

What's your favourite piece of clothing? Right now, probably my IVP sneakers since they’re my newest purchase. Other than that, my mom jeans are always super reliable.

What place have you gone to that you never would again? Police stations that I had to visit to cover stories for my journalism classes. Maybe it’s other people’s passion – and I thought it was mine at one point, too – but once I found myself in places like that I slowly realized that I didn’t have the fire for journalism I once thought I had.

What do others seem to have plenty of and you have little or none? Nice photos of themselves. I’m very camera shy.

Is pink a nice colour, an okay colour or icky? I personally love pink, so.

Give me a description of a great film plotline? ...I don’t feel like it :(( I also haven’t watched/rewatched any films in a while, so my memory is a bit rusty.

What do you have in your pockets? Nothing I’m wearing right now has pockets.

Do you listen to podcasts? Not really. I’m part of the minority that finds podcasts a little boring.

Have you ever played Poker? I’d guess I’ve tried playing it one or two times, but I’ve never understood the rules and I probably just did some random moves when I did try it.

Do you have a pond in your garden? No.

How about a swimming pool? We don’t.

Do you like Poptarts? I loooooove Pop Tarts and I wish we had more flavors here :( and that they weren’t so expensive.

Do you write notes on post-it notes? Sometimes; but lately I’ve mostly just been making to-do lists on my laptop. Writing takes too much time considering how hectic my job is.

Quiet darling, shh. - Q

Do you ever use the word quaint? Very rarely. I never really get into situations where that word would be most fitting to use.

Do you know what quantum physics is? I know of the term from watching The Big Bang Theory, but I don’t know what it refers to.

Are you a quiet or loud person? Depends on the people I’m with, my general mood, and my level of comfort.

Do you usually ask a lot of questions? I never do. I feel like that’s a weakness of mine, too. My mind never wanders too far, and I’m only able to recognize good questions when someone else raises them.

What's your favourite quote from a film? “Rome. By all means, Rome.”

Favourite quote from a song? “Now I’m told this is life, and pain is just a simple compromise so we can get what we want out of it.”

Are you quick witted? In what aspect? Not always; but yeah, I guess it comes out sometimes. I’m pretty good at witty or funny comebacks, especially with people I’m comfortable with.

Do you find the word queer offensive? Er, no?

Roses are Red and Romance is dead. - R

Do you listen to the radio often? I used to, since I once drove to school everyday and I liked having the radio on - especially in the morning, since there was a morning program I was hooked to. But now that I’m at home 24/7, I don’t really tune in anymore; I don’t even have the slightest clue what songs are trending rn.

Do you prefer rain or snow? We only get rain, so.

Have you ever ran into someone and injured you or them due to it? Fortunately no, for both circumstances.

Do you listen to rap music? K-Pop groups always have their own rap sub-unit, so yeah I’ve definitely been more exposed to rap these days.

Do you find pet rats gross or nice? Why? I guess it’s cute when they’re pets, since I’m sure they’re harmless. Not so much when they’re big black filthy rats that are house pests and probably carrying a lot of diseases.

Have you ever been to a rave? No. I’d love to experience it once.

Are you somewhat of a rebel? Nah.

How about reckless? Now this hits the spot more, especially when it comes to money lol

Do you prefer red, black or purple dresses? Black, then red, then purple. I don’t wear a lot of the latter to begin with.

Do you know how to reload a gun? I don’t; I’ve never even held a real gun before.

Do you remember your first best friends Mum's name? I don’t think I ever met her mom. Our friendship was super short-lived and didn’t go beyond preschool.

Do you have a good or a bad reputation? Idk, you’d have to ask other people for this I think.

What song do you request most often on the radio? I’ve never requested a song to radio stations.

Do you prefer rice or tofu? I need rice for literally every meal, otherwise it won’t feel filling. I like tofu too, but I only have it occasionally when it comes with some dishes.

Have you ever held a rifle? Nope.

Do you know a Robert? What's he like? I have an uncle-in-law named Robert. He’s very nice, and super intelligent; he’s from New Zealand but currently lives with my aunt and their family in Vietnam. Since he’s from a different country, he has lots of fun stories and different perspectives to share at family reunions, which makes me always want to sit at whichever table he’s at so that I can be part of interesting conversations.

Do you like rollercoasters? No.

Been to Rome, Italy? Nope.

Are Roses your favourite flower? They’re one of them.

So sweetheart, lets fan. - S

Do you feel safe in your neighbourhood? Yeah, I mean that’s kind of the whole point in living in a gated village. I’d be pretty alarmed if I ever hear of a crime happening here.

Whose the Patron Saint of your Country? St. Lorenzo Ruiz. I actually didn’t know that for a fact, so thanks for the Google search and impromptu lesson!

Do you put salt on your fries? Yessssssss, I need my fries to be very salty. Unless it was already seasoned with something else, I’d find it boring if it wasn’t salty enough.

Do you think we are all born the same? In some ways, yes; in some ways, no. I know everyone is born as humans worthy of love and respect, but when it comes to factors like privilege then that’s when circumstances start to get all different.

When did you stop believing in Santa? I never bought it. I used to always get frustrated that I was never allowed to meet Santa (none of my relatives ever played as him), and that he apparently just likes to leave gifts at midnight. Not seeing a Santa made me doubt and eventually I just kinda stopped buying it by the time I was like 5.

Do you think the name Sarah is pretty? Erm, it’s fine but I find it a little common.

Is Saturday your favourite day of the week? Fridays are, but Saturdays are a very close second.

Have you ever watched Saved By The Bell? Opinions? Nope.

What about the Saw films? Opinion? I haven’t, but I know they’re my eldest cousin’s favorite so it must be a good series.

Are you easily scared? In certain ways. I hate jumpscares for one, and I easily get offended by them.

What's your secondary language, if any? English.

Name all the things you can see from where you're sitting? The entirety of my bedroom.

What's the last sentence you spoke out loud? “JAY KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY”

Have you changed your default settings on your computer? Some of them just to change some aspects of the appearance, but I didn’t do a complete overhaul.

What year did you turn seven in? 2005.

How important is sex in a relationship how important is sex from 1-10? For me, probably like a 3 or 4.

What is your favourite shade of blue? Sky or royal.

Shade of Purple? BTS purple, I guess? Hahaha.

Favourite shape? I don’t have one.

Do you know a girl called Sharon? Nope.

How about Shari? Nope.

Do you shave your arms, legs, pubic hair and/or somewhere else? I shave, but not all of these areas.

When was the last time you were sick? May 2020 was the last time I felt like death.

What's the worst side effects you've had due to a medication? I’ve never gone through side effects from a medication.

What does your signature look like? A very lazy scribble of the first and last letters of my whole name.

Do you like silk? What do you own that is silk? It’s okay, but I never actively search for it. I have one set of silk pajamas but that’s it.

Do you sip or drink hot drinks fast? As much as possible I don’t like getting in contact with hot beverages. I wait for them to cool down considerably before I take my first sip.

How about with alcohol? Sure, I like to take them fast so that I don’t feel the nasty burn on my tongue.

Do you have sisters? How many, what ages and what're they called? Nina is turning 21 this year.

Is your grandmother older than sixty five? Both of them are, yeah.

Do you slam doors often? Nope.

Have you ever slapped someone in the face? For what reason? Yes. Because he had slapped me first. I was in so much shock that my first and only instinct was to hit back.

Do you snack a lot or just eat big meals? I like letting myself go hungry then reward myself with a very generous serving to eat in one go.

Do you smile more often, or frown? Smile.

Are you wearing socks? No, I haven’t worn any in a while.

Do you say sorry too often? Yes.

What's a sound that always soothes you? This. I always play it before turning in, or when I need to calm down.

Do you carry a lot of spare change? How much is on you now? Not so much anymore, since I’ve been increasingly going cashless.

Do you own a swimsuit of the Speedo brand? I don’t think so.

Do you like sunflowers? They have a personal meaning to me, so yes. It’s not my ultra favorite, though.

#survey #surveys #i just realized the author never wrapped this up :(#so i guess we're stopping this at S hahahaha

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asa-kai · 3 years

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Ref. to Chapter 177

Faint chirps of sparrows blending with the soft blow of air from the sea. All of that is crystal clear for Saionji Ukyo the former Sonar man from the Kingdom of Science.

It was almost like yesterday, when they were still sailing on the big blue beneath the widespread sky along with seagulls and now they are making their way to their next destination-South America.

After a long day of riding their motorbikes the crew made a stop to eat and rest. Thanks to Senku's customized motorbikes they can quickly outrun Stanley and his team.

Although they made it that far, the fact they're being pursued can't settle in Ukyo's mind.

Looking around finding a high place to spend the night he found a huge boulder high enough for anyone to bother climbing but just the right one for him to reach the top.

This little climbing is nothing compared to his past special forces training, he proudly recall. It would be nice though if he can find a tree on the dessert just like that back on the days when he's still working for the Tsukasa's Empire. Where he will watch Tsukasa break human statues in front of him....

Shaking off the bad memories, he perched on the top absorbing the nostalgia of the night.

"Finally a relaxing silence" he thought to himself.

Or he thought so......

The minimal noises from the campfire can't escape his sensitive ears. The laughter and the conversations are still loud enough for him to be heard.

"It can't be helped, if only I can shut them like my eyes." Ukyo pouted gazing above the night sky again.

He kept wondering if they could defeat Stanley or reach their destination safely or if they could even survive anything that could happen tonight.

He was so disturbed of the thought of what he's going to do if Senku can't fufill his promise that nobody dies. Calming his nerves and clearing his thoughts he starts to close his tired eyes.

Just then he heard footsteps below coming toward the boulder his perching on and base on the weight,speed and pattern of the footsteps it matches someone from the battle team.

"Kohaku?" Ukyo mumbled without realizing saying it out loud.

The huntress' vigilant eyes suddenly looked up to the perching archer.

"What are you doing up there?"

Before the young man can say a word he was surprised to see Kohaku sitting next to him enough for sending him to jolt.

She's really fast. The boulder must be really just a pebble to her

Despite the archer's obvious reaction the huntress seems to be deep into thoughts. She tilt her head up to sky and smile wistfully. Forgetting what just happened the man beside decided to join his new company's little stargazing.

The breeze is faint yet cool, chilling their skin but making one smile lightly.

Kohaku turned her head into the campfire's direction and stared back to the sky. Noticing that she's been doing it five times from now,Ukyo getting concerned finally asked the restless lady.

"Um...You've been looking back five times already...what seems to be the matter?"

" Oh sorry....did I bothered you?"Kohaku replied flustered.

" No not at all but I just get a little concrened." He sheepishly smiled.

The crescent moon dimly radiates light on landscape around them. Its almost vague but Ukyo can absolutely tell that Kohaku just smiled again. A meaningful yet gloom smile at that, as she turn around again back to the usual place under her observation.

"So...are you looking at Senku?" Ukyo forcedly scoffed.

Kohaku darted her eyes at the resident archer with a fearful look. However the pink blush on her face gave away the answer.

"Ukyo don't tell me...."

Her voice alone is already eerie when shes talking like that, no wonder they call her beastly names. But right now Ukyo fears that she'll blow, he can't break his good impression he left on Kohaku.

No one would want to ruin her trust

....."you can hear other people's thoughts?!"

Ukyo let out a loud laugh that Kohaku have never heard coming from him. Since he is usually silent the huntress was left jaw dropped.

"Sorry, I just thought it was absurd but its obvious that your looking at our crafty scientist."

Looking at Kohaku's blank face he continued.

"Observance is everything Kohaku you know that right? First of all Hyoga and Tsukasa is present on the campfire so you will have no reason to be worry of a sudden attack. Second you just finished putting Suika to sleep so you came up here to unwind, clearly enough to conclude that your confident that the crew is safe"

" But Ukyo how did you know I was looking at Senku?" Kohaku questioned poking her chin.

Ukyo took off his hat and start tossing it and then he answered.

" Well you know....I spend my free time observing both nature and people and through all that there's not a time I will not hear a talk about you two especially from Ginro..."

" Ginro....that scum..."

" Its not his fault though since his trying his best to lower his voice, I just happen to still hear it anyway." He concluded wearing his makeshift hat again.

"Oh having such great ears an advantage yes?" Kohaku sarcastically grinned.

" Its not that great" Ukyo defended, besides you two usually hang out together-just the two of you." Realizing he had said to much Ukyo turn to Kohaku to see her reaction.

" Oh so your a stalker now huh?" Kohaku even grinned wider and there is literally like a black smoke surrounding her right now.

Ukyo gulped down with two beads of sweat on his face, but what he expects on what the huntress is going to do is turned down though.

Kohaku hug her knees and hide her face.

"Who am I to be offended by you...Im the same too. I will sometimes shortly glance at Senku when he's not aware and I don't know why. I constantly worry about him as an ally and friend but I think its getting out of hand and becoming a habit."

Although Kohaku is not showing a bit of faze on her tone but he can tell that she's worried and troubled for some reason.

"At least you can just close your eyes and never look again." Ukyo pointed out.

" That's the problem I can't turn away my eyes on him nor I can shut them. Not when there's another girl beside him" Kohaku's voice cracked at the last words she said.

Ukyo just came to a realization how wonderous yet coincedental life can be sometime

Moments ago he's worrying about the well-being of his friends who are safe sound but his companion is worrying about her problem on worrying too much about Senku than the given normal.

Him worrying about the things that are still not happening.

Her worrying about a small thing but tormenting her right now

However he can relate on Kohaku's envy on her advantageous sense of sight.

"Our so called gifts can be such a nuisance huh? But maybe you can still use their trouble you know?"

Kohaku is now a friend and an ally to him and he will gladly help her if she need it.

It is the first time he'll personally offer help to the mighty huntress. Given Kohaku's physique its almost though she will need no help but ironically right now she's carrying which sometging which is to say in the old world a common problem but even she the mighty Kohaku can't handle it on her own. Theres no human who haven't experienced jealousy not even once.

Kohaku hanging on what he just said paid her attention closely to the archer as if like desperate child looking for answers.

Ukyo can't even conclude if she's solely worrying about Senku's well-being or if its something more than that and it looks like Kohaku is doubting herself as well.

Ukyo took a deep breath hoping what he's going to say will help.

"Like I said Kohaku, observation is everything."

The huntress gets even more attentive at this point. Confirming the words in his head Ukyo continues.

"The truth is I'm also envious of my sensitive hearing, sometimes I will hear things Im not suppose to hear but you know what really helps? Ukyo paused giving a warm smile.

Yes what Kohaku needs right now is emphathy even though his knowledge in psychology is inferior that of Gen but it is one of the common and genuine way to help out anyone.

..."I just let it."

Kohaku slightly flinch and her eyes widened.

"Forcing yourself to hold it in even when your about to throw up just makes matters worse right? I should know, my first day at the submarine makes me really sick that I want to pull my gut out."

Yes your'e not alone

...

" Uh sorry about the gruesome illustration."

"No its only normal." Kohaku brushed off.

That's Senku's lioness for you

"I knew Im not the only one... But what I fear if I get attach to him and letting go will be more difficult." Kohaku lamented.

The issue is now clear. She's just blaming it all to her eyes but the real deal is her feelings.

She's growing alright and it is unavoidable for anyone to feel that way.

Like Ukyo can see Senku and Kohaku had been literally went through blades and stones and their mutual trust makes them good friends but somehow its likly that one might start to look at the other differently.

The pair were silent for a while. Letting the evening aura take over making light sounds of air passing through stones.

Ukyo rest his head against his arms for a second trying to get answers for Kohaku's problem.

Though.....

Is he even fit for solving her problem,maybe it would be better if Gen will tell her....no does he even need to solve it?

"Sorry if I bother you Ukyo, I get too emotional sometimes." Kohaku stand up and started to brush off the dirt from her navy blue dress and just as she's about to wave goodnight, she sensed a sudden spark beside her. Right there, Ukyo made a little fire from using his bows and with a dozen of small sticks he gathered.

"The answer depends on your resolve Kohaku...you can either choose to look at him forever or shut your eyes, whatever works best for you all I can do is give you my advice. I don't have the authority to tell you what to do...... But right now why don't you let your senses take you somewhere else. It's getting cold you know." Ukyo hummed while putting more ignition on the fire.

Kohaku was drawn to the relaxing warmth of the newly made campfire a little smaller than that with the rest of the crew. Without knowing it she's starting to forget on what she's chafing about, a moment ago.

Unexpectedly an east wind blew caugthing the duo off-guard letting Kohaku's hair went loose and almost taking Ukyo's hat away. Without warning a stronger wind came and blew their makeshift campfire away, getting dark again so suddenly made Kohaku laugh akin to Ukyo who's groaning over the blown campfire.

"Well, some things don't always look and stay as they seem, one minute ago we have the fire I thought will hold yet now its already gone."Ukyo chuckled though attempting to make the fire again.

"That makes sense....everything change eventually, up to the point where a problem is no more." Kohaku softly stated coming up to her realization.

Ukyo smiled he was relieved that Kohaku finally get what he means.

"Well Im glad the lesson Im implying reached you."The archer exclaimed.

" Life goes on Kohaku"

Kohaku nod and smile in agreement.

"Yeah...I also learned you should never build a small fire on a high windy place". She jokingly concluded.

"Come on I know that....."Ukyo sheepishly laughed.

The night even grew darker but the stars and the moon appears to grew even brighter. The pair enjoyed the diamond ornamented void as the evening hyms envelops around them.

"Listen Kohaku" Ukyo whispered.

"This might be just one of my ideals but I always believe that life has many angles that each one can see and discover that's why I don't like anyone to die because they won't be able to enjoy it if they're dead... So Im convincing you to look at the other angles too Kohaku."

The huntress eyes were opened a hint of sparkles will be found in her eyes and a warm smile on her face being moved of what just her trustworthy comrade said. Although it's still not clear in her mind what he is saying. But whatever it is she will someday understand just like what he said life goes on.

" I'll gladly take the advice,I will surely enjoy, look forward to it."

-end

Obviously this is my first fanfic... Just to be frank I got tired reading the romance genre so I made something platonic and between- friends -kind -of- a -thing fanfic between low-key duo in dr. Stone. (Yes you just read it)

Speaking of low-key I'm also making fanfic for other underrated dcst (so called canon couples)

#dr. stone #ukyo saionji #kohaku #manga spoilers #fanfiction

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yurtletheturtlehenderson · 4 years

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Scars That Heal || Eddie Kaspbrak x Reader Series

• Ch. 7: Hush, Hush, Hush •

The children walk single file as they descended from the brush from where they had escaped, Eddie in the lead, Richie taking up the caboose. Y/n had helped Mike up the rocks, and shortly after found herself in the middle behind him. Mike cast a glance in her direction as well as the others.

"Thanks, guys," He said, redirecting his gaze to the ground. "But you shouldn't have done that, they'll be after you too, now."

Eddie was the first to chime in. "Oh, no, no, no, Bowers? He's always after us."

"I guess that's one t-t-thing we all have in common," Bill added.

"Yeah, homeschool!" Richie chirped. "Welcome to the Losers Club!"

Y/n smiled at the boy's remark, shaking her head lightly. It was then that Y/n was reminded of the fleeting thoughts from the night before that bounced around her tired, foggy brain. And a familiar feeling bubbled back up to the surface along with it; a sense of belonging. Y/n did not have much luck when it came to getting close to people, aside from Beverly of course. Until that day at the quarry, she had never truly felt at home. And now that they had a new member - the last piece of the puzzle - she knew as long as she had them, she would be whole.

In fact, they would never say it aloud, but each and every member of the Losers Club shared these same feelings. That day marked the beginning of a beautiful and powerful bond that would last a lifetime. Each and every one was just as important as the next and if you were to pluck any from the line, they would never quite be the same. Each of the eight children felt immediately at home with one another, a comfort so deep and profound it could quiet any lurking anxieties or fears.

For a short while, no one said anything, just a peaceful ambiance blanketed the atmosphere as they descended the small hill of grass. Each of them could feel the tall green blades brush their legs, and the silence was filled with the low yet loud rumble of the train traveling along the tracks, yards behind them. When they reached the bottom of the small hill, Y/n scurried up to the front and joined Eddie by his side. Everyone else disperses, scattering amongst one another, Ben silently taking the lead.

"Hey Kaspbrak" Eddie looked to her, a little taken aback but attentive. "I'm counting on you,"

Eddie blushed uncomfortably until he realized what she had been implying. She had been holding her left arm, just below the shoulder, and gestured to it with her eyes. She blushed herself and played it off with a weak laugh.

"My arm?" She wiggled her eyebrows playfully. "If you anyone has a band-aid it's you."

He laughed nervously as well, as he reached into one of his fanny packs, careful to watch his step as he was still walking. He pulled out a bandaid and handed it to her, she smiled in thanks. She wished she could have said she was surprised when he continued to pull supplies out one by one. And she'd be lying if she said she didn't find that a least a little impressive. It reminded her of clowns packed into a clown car. Ugh, she shivered slightly, bad analogy, nevermind.

"Here you go. Also, here's some ointment, it's a special disinfectant - who the fuck knows all the germs that were on that rock, you'll need all the help you can get. I also have gauze, normally I don't carry gauze but since your leg is still pretty bad, I figured I should carry some, just in case. Here you take it, I think I have some more, also, I kept a small wrap of ace bandages, you really need to - wait you have been changing them frequently, right? You always, always change bandages, the bigger the wound the more important it is you change it. Seriously, this is really important because-!"

"BEEP BEEP BEEEP!" Richie shouted suddenly, strolling up and walking between the pair. "Hear that sound, Doctor K? That's the sound of her flat-lining. You took too fucking long, genius, if you were a real doctor she would have bled out on your table already!"

Y/n snickered under her breath, several of the Losers smiled as well. Eddie felt his face grow hot, and he turned angrily to Richie, his face contorted in an angry pout. He was struggling for words, but before he could form a proper sentence, Richie continued.

"Quick tip, Doc, don't talk your patients to death!"

Stan laughed dryly, "Yeah, you're one to talk."

"Hey there, woah, woah, woah!" He threw his arms up in defense. "I'm just givin' the people what they want!"

"Great!" Y/n said excitedly, her face lighting up briefly before falling. "How bout some silence? Beep beep, Richie."

Mike, who had blended into the group so effortlessly and had been silently processing - still adjusting to the group dynamic - laughed suddenly and loudly. Everyone looked to him, taken slightly aback by his sudden, but infectious laugh. And it wasn't long until that laughter spread, everyone had cracked a smile and there was scattered laughter that melted away any previous tension.

By now, Y/n had applied the ointment and the band-aid easily. She handed the tube of disinfectant back to Eddie as well as the gauze.

"Thanks, but the band-aid will do just fine. Luckily, this one is only just a little cut."

Eddie nearly tripped, he had been so lost in thought as he stared anxiously at the gauze outstretched in her hand. He licked his lips nervously, and his eyes flickered to hers. She noted his tentativeness and waited expectantly, but he could hold his tongue no longer, crush or not.

"...Seriously, have you been changing those bandages, you never answered me and I'm sorry but that's disgusting if you haven't changed them cause the wound really needs to air out and if it doesn't you could end up-"

"Christ, Eddie! I've changed them!" Y/n blurted, falling into a small fit of chuckles to show she wasn't truly mad.

He tried to conceal his blush, but he played it off with a vigorous shake of the head and change of topic.

"Hey, where are we going anyway? I can't be out too long or my mom will kill me. One time, I was like, two minutes late for curfew and she had a panic attack."

Ben looked over his shoulder, he had taken the lead and while no one had mentioned it yet, everyone had instinctively followed him.

"Well, I was hoping to show you guys something."

Everyone gave one another an odd, questioning look but they followed Ben into the trees, nevertheless.

×××

Night had fallen the day of the rock fight and another day began. The group of misfits had found themselves in town, where the annual parade was taking place. Wracked with guilt and the unpleasant feeling of being pitied, Y/n was trying to talk Eddie out of buying her the delicious frozen treat she had been ogling. Eddie had noticed the longing in her eyes when she spotted a young child with one of their own, and it was then that he really noticed the effects the sun had on her. Her baggy clothes were sticking to her arms and legs, and he could see beads of sweat percolating above her brow.

Once again, their previous exchange on the fire escape popped into his head and he was reminded once more of how fortunate he was that he could afford such little things he took for granted. The power of suggestion had already gotten to him as well when he saw a frustrated father shoving an ice cream cone at his crying child, and although the sight made him cringe he couldn't quite shake the sudden craving of the sweet treat. Hence their detour to the ice cream cart, he could practically hear Richie ragging on him for getting her something with the audacity to leave him out - What, you skimping out on me now, Eds? - Eddie opted for a vanilla cone for Rich, just to be safe. But none of that stopped Y/n from protesting against it.

"Eddie, you really don't have to do this,"

The young L/n girl looked between the hypochondriac kid and the disgruntled teenager behind the cart, slinging ice cream. Ignoring her protests, he dropped the small pile of coins he had retrieved from his fanny pack onto the metal counter of the cart. The overheated employee slid it towards himself to the end of the counter, plucking the quarters from the surface and handed Eddie two vanilla cones. Eddie gladly took them in each napkin-clad hand - he had already grabbed several napkins so as to not spill or drip anything. Y/n watched defeated, albeit a bit excited, as the young man behind the counter opened another compartment and retrieved the y/f/f popsicle and handed it to her.

She hesitantly took the popsicle, trying her best to mask the ravenous look in her eye.

"Eddie-"

"Look, it's best you have that anyway, it's supposed to get like, really hot out today so it's best you keep cool or you could be one step closer to heatstroke. And let me tell you, that is not fun, not fun at all! Did you know that-"

A loud burst of noise disrupted their conversation and they turned to see the cause. Richie had gotten his hands on one of the marching bands instruments - a tuba by the looks, and sound of it. The owner of the tuba was angrily reaching for it but Richie managed to keep it out of his reach. His cheeks puffed and his face turned pink as a few short bursts of noise came from the instrument.

Eddie and Y/n shared an amused look and Y/n's eyes fell to the popsicle. She sighed lightly, trying to tame the pit in her stomach that always occurred when she was pitied. Now Y/n appreciated the gesture, she really did. It was awfully sweet of the boy, and she would be lying if she said it didn't make her stomach do a small flip, but all that was easily drowned out by how small she felt. She hated being a charity case, it was bad enough Beverly had basically kept her fed all these years but Y/n reminded herself that their friendship was symbiotic - they each had something to offer the other. But this made her feel like she owed Eddie, and she didn't like that.

The two left the cart and walked along the sidewalk at a steady pace. Nervously, she looked at the boy.

"Eddie, I appreciate it, but I don't want to owe you or anything. I-"

Eddie's face contorted into a confused frown. He chuckled weakly before taking a quick lick of his ice cream. He shook his head.

"You don't owe me! It's just a popsicle, it's no big deal."

Words failed her and she looked at the popsicle tentatively. Eddie noticed this and was scrambling to put out the small fire he had caused.

"Think of it as a favor to me,"

Y/n showed no efforts to hide her confusion. "A favor?"

"Yeah, you stay cool, and I don't have to take care of you when you suffer from heatstroke."

Her frown stayed cemented to her face as she stared at the boy, and Eddie feared his message was lost in translation. For fuck's sake, he didn't mean it like that! Great, now he sounded like a total ass.

Y/n broke out into chuckles and Eddie felt the enormous weight leave his shoulders. He chuckled with her, though they came out more strained and nervous. She shook her head, eyebrows raised.

"Man, you must care if you're willing to make up that load of horse shit." Y/n's tempted eye fell to the popsicle in her hand. "Thanks, shrimp, I appreciate it. But just this one time, okay? I always end up feeling like I owe people whenever they do stuff like this. Even if it's small things, cause a lot of stuff that might seem small to you, are kind of a big deal to me, does that make any sense?"

Eddie nodded.

"To tell you the truth, I've never tried one before."

Eddie's eyes widened and he looked frantically between her and her dessert.

"You gotta try it! They're really good!"

Y/n smiled weakly.

"Eddie, I mean it. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Eddie nodded eagerly, his eyes frequently falling to the popsicle.

"I get it, won't happen again. I promise. But seriously, you gotta try it! Really though, before it melts."

Y/n examined the frozen y/f/f pop and noticed the ice was thinning. She shrugged at Eddie and tried the popsicle. Her eyes widened and she gaped at the boy.

"Holy shit."

Eddie grinned eagerly, and by now the two were approaching Richie.

"Right?"

"Dammit, Eddie! You really shouldn't have done this, I'm gonna want another one!" She whined, though her voice held a twinge of humor.

She switched the popsicle to the other hand to lick the melted residue that had made it on her fingers. Eddie was quick to supply her with an extra napkin which she thanked him for.

Eddie laughed at her words and he noticed he had caught Richie's eye. More specifically, the extra ice cream cone did. Richie abandoned the tuba and waltzed over to the boy, gladly accepting the treat and the trio found themselves joining the rest of the group just inside the alley. They were all somber, Y/n couldn't help but notice.

"What's wrong?" She asked, drawing all eyes to her. "What are guys talking about?"

"What they always talk about," Richie said simply.

"I actually think it will end," Ben said, ignoring the interruption. "For a little while, at least."

"What do you mean?" Mike asked.

"So I was going over all my Derry research and I charted out all the big events. The Ironworks explosion in 1908, the Bradley Gang in '35, and the Black Spot in '62. And now kids being... I realized this stuff seems to happen-"

"Every 27 years," Bill and Ben finished.

Y/n looked up from her frozen pop and licked her lips, for some reason feeling silly for enjoying such a thing during this discussion. She found her stomach was twisted in knots, though at least, she thought, Eddie was right. She was feeling cooled down. But none of that seemed to matter now. Like it was all a matter of time before all of these fleeting feelings, these little moments, were being packed and stored away for a long time. It was a strange feeling that she couldn't quite identify, a feeling each of the Losers Club was experiencing: that while everyone around them was laughing and playing, enjoying the blissful moments of summer, they themselves each felt as if they were enjoying their last day on earth.

×××

"So let me get this straight," Eddie began, fingers drumming nervously on his right knee. "It comes out from wherever to eat kids for, like, a year? And then what? It just goes into hibernation?"

The Losers found themselves in the park, frozen treats long gone, the pits in their stomachs however still very much present. Bev, Stan, Mike, and Ben were splayed put on the bench, backs to the infamous statue of Paul Bunyan. Richie sat on his parked bike, unfortunate enough to be facing said statue - he never said it but the thing always creeped him out, just something about it. Bill and Eddie each found a seat of their own on the long back of Silver and Y/n laid in the grass before them in between the two bikes. She was propping herself up with her arms and legs splayed out before her. Her leg was healing fast but she didn't want to risk sitting on it and making it worse.

So here the Losers sat, lost in discussion and despite the hot weather, there was a chill in the air that only these eight misfits could feel. Looming over them, watching them, much like It did their own town.

"Maybe, it's like-- What do you call it?" Stan paused, searching for the word. "Cicadas. You know, the bug that only comes out once every seventeen years."

"My grandfather thinks this town is cursed," Mike said. "He says that all the bad things that happen in this town are because of one thing. An evil thing that feeds off the people of Derry."

An evil thing.

The three words that lurked in the back of Y/n's mind all her life. She could feel herself falling back into the pit, the black hole that swallowed her up every time she thought of the looming threat. She could feel herself disconnecting from the world again, watching herself being ripped away from this moment in time and tossed back to that awful night, though she could still hear the worried voices of her friends speaking. Completely unaware of her state of mind. The words were fuzzy and distant, background noise as she felt herself being transported to that day.

"I ain't got much time left, but at least I'm safer than you. I'm old, I've lived my life but you? Well, you're closer to death's door than I am."

"But it can't be one thing. We all saw something different." Stan said, his voice now began to fade out.

The voices were now blending together as memories of her past became her present reality.

"Cause this town, I tell you, this town... There's an evil, evil thing in this world," the man said.

She could hear her younger self whimper in fear, her own voice was squeaky and very frightened. The old voice continued, it shook with fear and the terror was as ripe as his memory, like only seconds had passed, not decades.

"monsters are all too real my child, I've seen 'em with my own two eyes."

Mike's voice found a way through her skull, echoing softly as all the details of the day she worked so hard to forget, came flooding back.

"Maybe. Or maybe it knows what scares us most and that's what we see."

"The Devil himself lives here, right here in this very shit hole and I've waited a very long time for this moment; to be free."

There was a moment of tension-filled silence as the young h/c girl looked up at the slouching figure. The girl clutches her teddy bear tightly to her chest - the sad old thing nearly worn down to threads - tears pooling in her e/c eyes as she stares on in horror at the distant relative. Old and senile he was, why her mother brought her here she didn't know. Y/n would later figure out that it was a final visit of sorts. A last chance to meet some of her family. And while her mother stepped out of the room to retrieve a simple glass of water for the man, he turned unexpectedly to his grandniece and imparted the words she would never forget.

"He's in your closet, under your bed. He's everywhere, always, watchin' you. Waiting for the right moment to snatch you up. And he will get you. He always gets you... he got her, I told her not to go, but she was adventurous you see, much like you kids are these days, and mother didn't like that and she always told us; 'you mind yourself or I'll tell him. I'll tell him...'"

The old man's glossy eyes drifted away, his voice trailing as he was lost in the memory; reliving it all over again.

"Tell who? Who is he?" The young girl asked tearfully?"

He broke from his trance and he looked at her with cold and fearful eyes.

"The Boogeyman." Y/n croaked, breaking from her stupor.

The Losers all looked to their friend in the grass. The color was drained from her [s/c] skin, and her eyes were distant and glassy. Her left leg had inched gradually up and was now clutched tightly against her chest protectively. Seven pairs of eyes were now fixed on her and she gulped.

"My great uncle Henry, I only met him once when I was about five or six, but he- he told me about how he saw the Boogeyman. Not much else, but the way he described It... I don't know, it always stuck with me. I've been afraid of It ever since and then-" Her eyes met Beverly's and she knew she had connected the dots.

"Your ankle." She finished.

Y/n nodded. She shifted in the grass uncomfortably before looking around at her friends. Some of them confused, others connecting dots of their own, but still intrigued and listening.

"When school got out, Bev slept over." Y/n began, filling in Mike especially. "We both fell asleep with the TV on, it woke me up so I got up to turn it off, and then, just as I started to drift off I felt Bev pull on my leg several times. But, I woke up and realized she was fast asleep."

She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the nerves that came crawling back even now. She fixed her eyes on the grass below her, and her fingers worked themselves into the ground. Y/n began fiddling with eh blades of grass, twirling them and ripping some from the ground as she continued.

"Next thing I know, It's pulling me across the carpet and my leg is torn to shreds. It looked like what I always imagined the Boogeyman to be, but... but it also looked like-"

"A clown."

She had to turn her body slightly to look at Eddie, but she nodded, confirming everyone's suspicions from the day before.

"Yeah, I saw a clown too. But It was also a leper." Eddie saw the confused looks scattered across his friends. "He was like a walking infection."

Eddie felt himself fighting his bodily instincts to vomit, still repulsed by the vivid memory. Stan, who had been squirming in his seat the entire exchange, fought desperately to deny the gory truth that lay before them. Trying to convince everyone, himself especially, that this thing couldn't exist. Cause if It did, it would be all too terrible.

"But you didn't," his voice trembled. "Because It isn't real. None of this is. Not Eddie's leper. Or Bill seeing Georgie, or-or woman I keep seeing." His voice broke, he looked down at his feet and the others knew.

He was trying to convince himself.

"She hot?" Richie asked with a half-smirk.

Stan gave Richie an incredulous look, and his voice rose.

"No Richie! She's not hot! Her face is all messed up. None of this makes any sense. They're all like bad dreams."

Mike spoke up, unable to tiptoe around him any longer.

"I don't think so. I know the difference between a bad dream, and real life, okay? Besides, look at Y/n's leg! How do you explain that?"

Y/n gave Mike a thankful nod, and Eddie asked the question she had at the end of her tongue.

"What'd you see? You saw something, too?"

"Yes," Mike answered somberly, and he took a deep breath. "Do you guys know that burned-down house on Harris Avenue?"

Y/n nodded, encouraging Mike to continue.

"I was inside when it burned down." Mike began fiddling with his hands nervously, and Bill could feel his heartache. "Before I was rescued, my mom and dad were trapped in the next room over from me. They were... pushing and pounding on the door, trying to get to me."

Mike's voice broke and he fought hard against the tears that threatened to spill. His heart was breaking in two all over again, he rarely spoke of the incident, always much too saddened by it and each time he did he could hear their frightened screams and the scratches against the door.

"trying to get to me." There was a pause, and Mike swallowed the swollen lump in his throat. "But it was too hot. When the firemen finally found them, the skin on their hands had melted down to the bone."

"Mike," Y/n felt at a loss for words, but all she could manage was a simple few. "I'm so sorry."

He shrugged, and everyone could tell he was already beginning to rebury the memory.

"We're all afraid of something."

"You got that right." Richie quipped.

Everyone looked to the boy and Y/n asked gently.

"What about you, Rich? What are you afraid of?"

His eyes flickered to Eddie against his will, and he ignored the spike in his heart rate when he did so. Everyone was staring at him now and he gulped, looking over his shoulder to see a clown on the stage across the field, staring at him. He returned his gaze to the group, and swallowed nervously, adjusting his bulky glasses.

"Clowns."

×××

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thebibliomancer · 4 years

Text

Essential Avengers: Avengers #222: A Gathering of Evil!

August, 1982

You know, I haven’t really thought about how long its been since the Avengers have dealt with the Masters of Evil.

The Masters are the Avengers’ evil opposite team. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to their X-Men. The Legion of Doom to their Justice League. The Revengers to their Avengers.

But the Avengers haven’t had to deal with the Masters of Evil since Avengers #83. And in that appearance, they took a backseat to the real master of evil. FEMINISM.

At least according to Roy Thomas.

But yeah. Its been a while without the Masters of Evil. And, uh, any team with Whirlwind has a long way to climb for credibility. Yeah, I said it. He doesn’t wear a shirt.

Also, they put She-Hulk in her at-the-time Iconic She-Hulk Outfit. This is another case of the cover lying. The reality is, somehow, even more embarrassing for her.

Last time: the Avengers had a membership drive because you can only be a kooky quartet for so long. She-Hulk and Hawkeye were recruited and took an instant dislike to each other.

Because She-Hulk cut off Hawkeye in traffic and Hawkeye proportionately responded by breaking her car.

Fun!

So lets get to it.

We start with She-Hulk trying to fix her car.

Annnnd she’s throwing random pieces out of the hood. I don’t think she knows much about auto-repair.

When the electrical system zaps her, she gets so angry that she smashes the car flat like she’s a Street Fighter. Then she jams the wreckage into a public trashcan - also flattening that.

Alas, She-Hulk’s pink Cadillac. You graced our lives for far too short a time. And were taken from us by that heinous bowman Hawkeye. This is the sin which I will always hold against him.

Wasp rolls into the scene, tsking about She-Hulk’s behavior being bad for the Avengers’ image. And hey, yeah! I do like that She-Hulk trying to fix a car in front of the mansion before getting fed-up and breaking it is a good indication that she’s not going to be your typical Avenger.

But despite the tsk she’s not too serious about the admonishment. She even congratulates She-Hulk on getting rid of the car, as it clashed with her skin color.

Reasonably enough, She-Hulk asks who made Wasp the expert.

Except, Wasp did. Wasp made Wasp an expert. She’s literally a professional fashion designer. But relatedly, she’s designed a whole new wardrobe for She-Hulk and can’t wait to dress her up.

I kind of wonder if Wasp views new female teammates as potential canvasses.

Later on, in the Busiek run, she’ll design a new outfit for Firestar pretty much without any input from Firestar herself. And it had an incredibly plunging neckline that Firestar was very uncomfortable with.

If Wasp offers to fashion design for you, feel flattered and a little bit afraid.

Anyway, She-Hulk decides well might be nice to try on a bunch of new clothes.

Y’know, She-Hulk is a bit of a fashion person herself. In her original solo book she started the ‘oops I flexed and my sleeves fell off’ fashion.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Tony Stark at Stark International.

Big boss himself came down to the Long Island office because one of his programmers has asked for time off.

Brenner’s son is sick and he needs to pick him up from school. BUT: he’s in the middle of a complicated computer project!

Like the idealized fictional caring billionaire that he is, Tony is completely understanding.

Tony Stark, what a guy: “Well, your son is more important than any computer program, take the rest of the day off -- with pay.”

If you end up stuck in the Marvel universe somehow, see about swinging a job with Tony Stark. Tony Stark makes you feel/he’s the cool exec with the heart of steel.

Tony decides he’ll get Ordinary Electrical Engineer Scott Lang to finish the programming work.

Ordinary Electrical Engineer Scott Lang is happy to pick up the project but since Tony Stark is in the room anyway, Scott asks if Iron Man has mentioned any news of Hank Pym.

For you see, although you might think that this Scott Lang is an Ordinary Electrical Engineer, he is actually the new Ant-Man so he feels indebted to Hank Pym.

Tony responds that there hasn’t been any news since Hank Pym went to jail so Scott asks why the Avengers haven’t done anything for him. Tony claims that there’s not a lot that the Avengers can do for him until his case comes to trial.

You could hire him a good lawyer? Or pay for that therapy that you thought he needed?

I guess I don’t know that Tony isn’t doing these things off-screen, to be fair.

Tony further claims that Hank will do fiiiine in jail, because he’s tough. Scott remains dubious since he’s actually been to jail and knows what its like. But there’s only so much you can contradict the boss, even if he’s idealized fictional caring billionaire Tony Stark.

And anyway, Tony has other things on his mind. He’s more worried about Jan than he is about Hank. She’s way too well-adjusted for having gotten divorced after her marriage turned miserable. According to Tony Stark anyway.

Of course, his major misunderstanding is that he thinks “she had [Hank] to lean on for so many years” when it was more the other way around. The Jan he thought he knew was actually playing the role of the Hank Pym Hype Squad.

Meanwhile, we check in on Steve Rogers.

One thing I appreciate about this run of Avengers is that we have more of a sense of what the Avengers are doing when not Avengersing. The Avengers book feels a lot more keyed into the rest of the related Marvel universe.

For example, Steve actually got some art jobs! It looks like comics book actually! And he does art for advertisements too!

And he’s living that glamorous artist life of staying up all night to finish pages and then going ‘oh shit my day job’ when his alarm rings for the Avengers meeting.

Although he’s actually looking forward to getting the costume on and getting away from dealing with ad executives and art editors for a while.A good ol’ several hours in the Avengers gym will help work out the art desk bad posture knots out of his shoulders.

And elsewhere in Chicago, Illinois, where Ordinary Doctor Donald Blake has moved to attempt to make a life for himself separate from Thor. He’s doubtful whether he actually can.

I sorta wonder what the status quo in the Thor books is like because usually when Dr. Donald Blake shows up in the Avengers book, he’s been like a wandering expert doctor, just passing through. Showing up to do the tough medical jobs. He’s settling down in Chicago now.

But at least the thousand mile commute to the weekly Avengers meeting is no problem for THOR!

Now that Hawkeye is on the Avengers again, he’s part of the round of checking in. He’s clocking out of the security chief job at Cross Technological Enterprises. His colleagues all envying how he gets to set his own hours.

He takes a train from Yonkers to his new Central Park West apartment. I don’t know if you remember his living conditions before he got the job at Cross Technological but it was a bit suck. He’s definitely put his steady paycheck to use improving his digs.

Old (from issue #189):

New (from issue #this issue):

Although maybe too much. Because when he gets home he realizes that he has almost no food in his apartment and also no money until payday.

Hawkeye: “Where the heck does $1200 a week go, anyway? I don’t play Pac-Man that much! There was more change in my pocket in the old carny days!”

Psst, Hawkeye. Definitely sign up for the stipend check from Stark.

Another thousand a week will go a long way to keeping you living the can afford food standard of living you’re accustomed to.

He manages to find a bag of potato chips to snack on but decides he’ll have to see if he can find an actual square meal at Avengers Mansion.

Likely. Jarvis seems the sort to keep the fridge well-stocked and heck he’d probably make something if asked.

Anyway, Hawkeye being Hawkeye, he’s not going to take the elevator or stairs. He’s definitely going to fire a cable arrow so he can swing down from his balcony. Because, of course he is. He’s Hawkeye.

And he lands right in front of a taxi, the driver of which calls him a nut

Hawkeye: “You want a star in your cab or not?”

Turns out? No. Hawkeye has to walk to Avengers Mansion and arrives late because the cabbie won’t give him a free ride.

Meanwhile at Avengers Mansion (which fails to elicit the same kneejerk emotional response as ‘meanwhile at the HALL of JUSTICE’ from me), the She-Hulk clothing montage has occurred off-screen.

For shaaaame, James Shooter. And also Steven Grant.

She-Hulk isn’t so sure about the outfit Wasp put together for her.

Wasp: “I call it Arabian Night -- a blend of suppleness, strength and sensitivity to highlight your true nature!”

She-Hulk: “Don’t you think it’s a little... unusual?”

Wasp: “You’re an unusual woman, Jennifer! Your clothes should say that! We want a complete image that’ll drive me wild at the sight of you!”

She-Hulk: “Got anything that’ll drive that jerk Hawkeye one way to oblivion?”

I don’t know if fashion can do that but if anyone could design that, Wasp could. Her or Giger.

Wasp tries to defend Hawkeye but can only manage “he’s okay, just a little... um, well, you know!” but suggests that She-Hulk just be nice to Hawkeye to throw him off.

Which. Sounds like a funny idea.

Anyway, I like the outfit. The colors work for her. And maybe it’s because there are a couple Dragon Ball outfits like this but it feels appropriate for her. Because of the punching.

Iron Man comes in and goes ga-ga multiple punctuation over She-Hulk’s new look, which I guess proves that Wasp hit where she was aiming.

Wasp: “Oh, more flattery! More! I love it! And this is just the beginning. Wait until you see the fighting togs I’m designing for her!”

So I guess that this is just an outfit to look good in and Wasp is still working on the superhero outfit. Can’t wait to see it.

Captain America and Thor come in and Thor too praises She-Hulk’s new look.

Thor: “By Odin’s beard! What emerald beauty stands before us?”

They date later. Its one of those ‘wow expected this to happen way sooner than 2018 honestly’ things.

And then Hawkeye comes in.

He also loses his shit over She-Hulk’s new look. But in more of a Hawkeye way.

Hawkeye: “Waitaminit! Is it Cheryl Tiegs? Loni Anderson? No! It’s the new fashion plate -- the Savage She-Hulk! Talk about trying to get silk purses from sow’s ears!”

You’re a rude, Hawkeye.

She-Hulk storms towards him, offended, and just lifts him bodily.

And kisses him.

Then drops his ass on the ground.

I guessss remembering and putting her own spin on Wasp’s suggestion?

People need to stop kissing each other for spite and revenge reasons, honestly.

I do get a laugh at Hawkwye demanding a rematch. Can’t imagine what form that’d take. But its funny.

I kind of have a problem with the scene, beyond the people kissing each other for spite and revenge thing. Prior to joining the Avengers, the issue where She-Hulk got her pink Cadillac was Marvel Two-In-One #88 where she spent nearly the entire issue hitting on the Thing to his discomfort. And the joke was Ha Ha Sexually Assertive Women.

I really hope that we do not have that again.

Anyway, the other Avengers get some yuks over She-Hulk’s method of shutting up Hawkeye.

Iron Man even suggests that Hawkeye and She-Hulk have just had their first date to Hawkeye’s dismay.

Seriously, someone write an Avengers code of conduct and then create an HR department.

MEANWHILE, CHANGING THE TOPIC AND THE SCENE

In Egghead’s secret Manhattan laboratory.

Egghead: “No, it’s not fair! All I ever wanted was to rule the world -- is that so much to ask? I’m 52. That doesn’t give me many years left -- that idiot Henry Pym blew what may have been my last chance!”

Hah at Egghead having a baby tantrum over being thwarted. And I guess good to know that Hank screwing up the plan by calling the Avengers did screw over more than Hank Pym.

Hank may have saved the world, actually. Good job, Hank.

Egghead laments that he wishes he had another good plan but kind of put all the eggs, hah, in the unstoppable adamantium robots basket.

And then his sexy maid Anna chimes in with a suggestion.

Wait, why does Egghead of all villains have a sexy maid? Who seems to have a crush on him? Why is this a thing? Who in or out of universe looks at Egghead and thinks ‘yes this man is a sexual dynamo’?

Eh, whatever.

Anna: “Vhy don’t choo just buy the vorld, darlkink?”

Egghead: “Anna! Vhat... er, what did you say?”

Anna: “You should make a lot ov money und buy the vorld!”

Egghead: “Work?! Disgusting!”

This is probably the only time I will ever be able to say this but I agree with Egghead.

Anna: “No, no, no! Just invent somethink that everyvun vants -- a cure for baldness, mebbe... or eternal youth!”

Egghead: “That’s silly, Anna! Or is it?”

IT IN FACT WASN’T!

Egghead suddenly stands up, dumping sexy maid Anna to the floor, as he realizes that she’s right! If Egghead could invent cell rejuvenation to give people eternal youth, the world would be his oyster! People would give anything for it!

Granted, he has no idea how to invent cell rejuvenation but that’s tomorrow’s problem. Today’s problem is the logistics. He’ll need research, money, equipment and most importantly of all lackeys to steal all that stuff for him so he won’t have to Effort!

So moments later, Egghead signals a robot spy capsule that he has monitoring Atlantis at all times just because.

Egghead’s spy capsule launches a guided missile at an Atlantean prison, busting out someone mysterious unless you happened to glance at the cover.

And we go from one prison to another prison to pop in on Hank Pym at Ryker’s Island.

Ryker’s is apparently the go-to supervillain prison.

And whoops Hank Pym is one now, at least according to the law. What with being caught with all that stolen adamantium and the mind control prosthetic arm.

Hank Pym: “It just doesn’t make sense! All I tried to do was redeem myself, but things just got out of control! Egghead’s responsible for this! He committed the crime I’m accused of -- and made sure I can’t prove it! Why doesn’t anyone believe me?”

Probably because you did do the crime and were caught in the act and you wouldn’t explain yourself fully afterward. Just saying.

Hank Pym: “Jan! That’s where it all went wrong! If I could get her back, everything would work out! I know it!”

Hank Hank Hank... You’re suddenly a romantic.

A guard yells at Hank that its food time and then further yells that his son had looked up to Hank, which causes Hank to reflect whoops he let down more than just Jan and the Avengers.

When Hank sits down to eat prison chow, he’s accosted by Dave Cannon aka WHIRLWIND aka I guess Hank’s backup archnemesis?

Hank isn’t really spoiled for choice with good archnemeses so he either has Egghead or spin around real fast man.

At least Dave Cannon aka Whirlwind is trying to go for the personal lowblow. That’s a decent, if gross, archnemesis move.

He insinuates that hey if Jan divorced Hank that means Dave has a chance with her and he’s going to visit her as soon as he jailbreaks out of here today.

I’m sure he does have a chance. Like a snowball’s in hell, maybe.

Hank tells Dave to shut up because shut up, Dave.

But Dave ups the ante by suggesting that after Hank Pym gets out of jail in maybe ten or twenty years, he and Jan will hire Hank to be their chauffeur.

So Hank smashes a tray of food in Dave’s face because shut up, Dave.

He also starts punching him because in for a penny.

And because Hank totally started that ‘fight’ the guards haul Hank off for a month in solitary.

You wouldn’t think Hank’s life could get worse in every issue he appears in but you would be wrong.

And wouldn’t you know it? As soon as Hank is out of the room, the jailbreak starts without him.

He doesn’t even get to participate in activities now! Geez, Dave Cannon! You’re ruining prison for Hank.

Anyway, the mysterious figure from the Atlantis jailbreak scene is now jailbreaking Ryker’s and iiiiiits TIGER SHARK!

A guy I know almost nothing about!

-google- Ah, Namor foe. That explains him being a shark man.

He used to be an Olympic swimmer who injured his spinal cord when he rescued a drowning man. So a pretty good guy, starting off. Then to heal his spine he participated in an experimental procedure where Namor and tiger shark DNA was blended with his own and he became a shark man and an asshole.

I think that’s the Namor DNA personally. It makes people into jerks. And Namor is 100% Namor DNA so you can imagine what a jerk he is.

I’ve gotten lost in the weeds.

Tiger Shark busts in through a supposedly impregnable prison wall. The guards try to shoot him with ‘special weapons’ but Tiger Shark thwarts them with a special weapon of his own.

A TABLE!

Which he uses to block the shots and then hit them with.

They were fools to put their faith in high-falutin’ technology when they could have been investing in low-falutin’ carpentry.

That’s right, they should have gotten wooden guns.

With the guards tabled for now, Tiger Shark collects Scorpion and Whirlwind.

That’s two supervillains on his shopping list but there’s one more to get.

So the three detour over down to the women’s wing while the jailbreak of everyone else keeps the guards very busy.

And they find Dr. Karla Sofen, Ordinary Criminal Psychologist who got superpower from a space rock. Y’know, a Moonstone.

She has a few follow-up questions before she throws in with these goons but Tiger Shark isn’t a good conversationalist.

Tiger Shark: “You wanna get snuffed right here, lady?! Move! Negotiations are closed!”

She grudgingly accepts these terms. The caption box says so.

The four supervillains take a remote controlled escape boat and escape on a boat.

Later, in a safehouse on Long Island Sound, the four supervillains are all costumed up and already feeling cooped up with each other. It is a small house and they are all big personalities.

Tiger Shark and Whirlwind even get into a fight when Tiger Shark complains about waiting and about suburbia and Whirlwind tells him to shut up. And by fight I mean Tiger Shark smacks Whirlwind in the head. Because its Whirlwind.

Ant-Man’s backup archnemesis. And Tiger Shark fights Namor. Its a mismatch.

But its enough of a ‘fight’ to cause a stir.

Egghead: “Stop your silly squabbling! Fighting among yourselves won’t further my plans!”

Moonstone: “Wha -- ?! Egghead?!”

Tiger Shark: “What’s an Egghead?”

Hah.

I don’t know why this exchange amuses me so much.

Egghead is perfectly happy to introduce himself slash ramble on and on with words words words. He is PERHAPS the world’s greatest genius (hahahahah noooo) but says he may find a cure to Tiger Shark’s “repugnant amphibious condition.”

Egghead: “If you all follow me without question, you’ll share in my forthcoming power and wealth! In addition to being bodyguards, you’ll perform various tasks for me -- beginning tonight, when you loot a certain Manhattan medical research center to obtain data and supplies! Cross me -- and no one will ever hear from you again!”

I’ll make fun of Egghead any day of the week but I’ll give him this. He evidently delivers this speech with such conviction that ‘shark man who fights Namor’ just nods and apparently thinks yes this sounds legit.

And lets be honest, between Whirlwind, Scorpion, Moonstone, and Tiger Shark none of them look at this eggheaded guy threatening them and think about trying something.

Egghead appoints Moonstone his deputy and team leader. Because, he says, she’s such a well-trained follower.

Okay, okay, okay. Okay.

So, Dr. Karla Sofen first appeared as a henchwoman to Dr. Faustus.

But then she tricked the original Moonstone into giving the moonstone to her and became the new Moonstone. And here I didn’t even know there was an original Moonstone.

My point being, yes, early on you might look at Moonstone’s history and think ‘yes she’s definitely a subordinate person who won’t give me trouble’ but from a modern perspective?

I know Modern Moonstone for basically being the Starscream of whatever team she’s on. Starting from Thunderbolts at least, she’s never the boss, she’s happy being the deputy but she’s always scheming and manipulating and undermining her boss.

I really want this to be a hilariously bad judge of character Egghead has made. I really do.

Meanwhile, Whirlwind thinks that he’ll play along with Egghead’s plans. Until he gets bored.

And then I guess he gets bored like five seconds later because he decides that since the job Egghead wants them to do isn’t until evening, he can go visit Wasp.

And yeah. We scene transition to Avengers Mansion and Whirlwind is just lurking in the bushes spying on Wasp’s limo.

Inside the mansion, with the Avengers’ meeting over, the Avengers all get ready to go about the rest of their business.

Hawkeye saying he has to get home gets She-Hulk to start musing on how she hasn’t had a real home since she left Los Angeles.

Which she did for... reasons? She seemed like she was going to stay in LA at the end of her original Savage She-Hulk book. She probably did it so she could do crossovers. That makes sense.

Wasp tells She-Hulk that since Tony doesn’t charge rent, She-Hulk can just stay at Avengers Mansion for a while. And in a couple days, she’ll take She-Hulk apartment hunting.

Wasp is a good friend.

She heads out to her limo and tells Mr. Carrothers to take her to her Manhattan apartment.

BUT WHOOPS iiiiiiiiiits Whirlwind!

He knocked out Mr. Carrothers over the head and stashed him in the bushes. Wow, being Wasp’s chauffeur is very eventful.

Whirlwind: “Forget him. I’m the man in your life now! I figure with your ex in the slammer, you’re gonna need an understanding shoulder to lean on -- .”

And then Wasp shrinks down and shoots Whirlwind in the face.

Wasp: “That’s awfully considerate of you. But next time send flowers first, okay? By the way, have you ever met me bio-electric sting?”

Get rekt, Whirlwind.

This has been a really good span of issues for Wasp. I’m boggling a little. My standards weren’t super high to be honest but this has been good.

I mean, aside from her wearing her Avengers #194-196 costume again. The one with only one pant leg. Of all your costumes to wear under normal clothes, why this one, Jan?

Outside the limo, Hawkeye is trying to sneak back into the mansion to raid the pantry and hoping everyone else has gone.

Because he doesn’t want them to know that two-jobs Hawkeye is having money trouble, I guess? But dude, just confide in Jarvis. He’s a good guy.

Anyway, point being, because of Hawkeye’s hungry little tummy, he sneaks back to the mansion in time to see flashes of energy from inside Jan’s limo.

Hawkeye runs to Jan’s rescue and instantly gets blasted by Moonstone who has just arrived to yell at Whirlwind for taking off without her permission.

Whirlwind says he doesn’t have to answer to Moonstone and a presumably very frustrated Moonstone answers yes he does, that is the very thing he has agreed to when he joined the new Masters of Evil!

I feel maybe announcing loudly that you are the new Masters of Evil right in front of the Avengers is kind of jumping the gun.

Not to mention having the whole time show up to pose like a team just to pull Whirlwind’s butt out of the fire but like I said, this isn’t a very impressive seeming iteration of the Masters.

They do have this much, at least. Hawkeye recognizes each one of these bozos (muffled foghorns from Titan Up the Defense way) and recognizes that he and Wasp are outpowered in addition to being outnumbered.

Reinforced by Tiger Shark just smacking Wasp out of the air.

I think her one legged outfit is slowing her down.

So Hawkeye fires a flare arrow to try to summon help.

Remember when the Avengers had radio rings? That’d probably be a less obvious way to signal for help. Because Moonstone sees Hawkeye shoot a flare arrow that LIGHTS UP THE AREA and shoots him for sending up a signal.

And then she turns to the others and goes “Why didn’t you blunderers stop him?”

Its a good point. Tiger Shark points out though that she didn’t stop him either.

Again: not a very impressive iteration of the team.

Whirlwind, trying to put on the pragmatic hat way too late, says that they should kill Hawkeye and skedaddle because fighting in front of Avengers Mansion makes him nervous.

But he’s still Whirlwind so he’s still gross so he thinks to himself that he wants to grab Wasp before they go.

And what, dude? You gonna keep her under your bed? WHATS YOUR CREEPY ENDGAME?

On second thought, I don’t want to know. Geez, this is awful but I’m glad that Wasp died in Ultimate comics before an exceptionally creepy Ultimate Whirlwind could show up and keep her in a well or something.

Hey, maybe if we tell Whirlwind that Living Laser is also obsessed with Wasp, the two will fight to the death and I won’t have to deal with either one!

Anyway. Off-track. Anyway.

With a sound of thunder, a Perfectly Ordinary Uru Hammer THOOMs by smacking every villain before returning to Thor’s hand.

Yeah, fighting in front of Avengers Mansion? Really dumb!

Thor: “Stand back, perfidious mortals, or face the wrath of Thor!”

Wasp: “Huh? Thor! I always thought you were handsome -- but you never looked better than you do now!”

Thor: “Fair Wasp, thou art safe in my hands!”

Wasp: (Mmmm! Don’t I wish!)

Well, you’re free to play the field now, Wasp. Go for it.

Meanwhile, over in Avengers Mansion, She-Hulk hears the racket and gets up from her nap to see a supervillain battle taking place on the street in front of the Mansion and just kind of sighs about New York being like this.

Again again: fighting in front of Avengers Mansion? REALLY DUMB!

Moonstone even realizes it.

Moonstone: “This is insane -- wasting our energy battling the Avengers for nothing! We’ve got to end this fight and escape!”

She tells Scorpion to take Thor which either shows a high esteem of him or a very low regard. Either way, Scorpion is happy to try, tail-whipping Thor through the air.

Inside the mansion, She-Hulk decides that the only way to get some peace and quiet is to throw hands. Side benefit: she’ll also get to prove herself to the Avengers.

But I like that the primary reason is that she just wants to have a dang nap and this nonsense is preventing it.

So she OH YEAHs through the window because heck Tony Stark will pay to fix it and runs towards the battle.

Haha look at that tiny alarmed Jarvis in the window. I love that kind of background detail. Amazing.

Wasp takes a break from, I dunno fantasizing about Thor, to fly over in a panic.

Wasp: “Oh, no! That outfit is an original! Tear it -- and I’ll never speak to you again!”

She sure has her priorities. I think maybe she doesn’t think these new Masters of Evil are all that threatening.

Maybe she shouldn’t be so worried though. She-Hulk just jumped through a glass window and the outfit looks untouched.

She-Hulk: “You can’t be serious?! You are. Ohhh... fudge! This is ridiculous!”

She definitely had to stop herself from saying an f-bomb.

So She-Hulk stops running to help Thor and sits down to start pulling the Van Dyne Original outfit off so Wasp won’t friend break up with her.

I’m sure Thor is doing fine though.

Ha ha, just kidding.

Moondragon is keeping him pinned down with her laser blasts and Tiger Shark hits him with something almost as powerful as TABLE.

A CAR.

Tiger Shark: “That Avenger creep thinks he’s the strongest there is. Me, I can withstand the pressures of the ocean’s floor without breathing hard. So when you’re talking strength -- you’re talking Tiger Shark!”

Hey, cool! Its the same thing writers use to argue Aquaman Strong Actually. I wonder if this actually predates that. It’d be funny if Tiger Shark preempted Aquaman in anything.

Wasp (while blasting Scorpion in his Scorpion neck) asks Thor if he’s okay but I think Thor is more annoyed than endangered by being ganged up on by the villains.

Thor: “Aye, the villain’s cowardly attack availed him naught against the might of Thor! I would see this battle ended!”

Tiger Shark basically says ‘nuh uh’ or “Together we can turn him into hamburger!” but then someone punches Tiger Shark from behind and knocks him out.

Scorpion: “Who in -- ? Some chick from Frederick’s of Hollywood?”

She-Hulk: “Don’t tell me you don’t know who I am! I don’t want to hear it!”

So, yeah, She-Hulk has arrived. In her underwear. So she doesn’t offend Wasp.

I guess after the Moondragon arc, Wasp is paying forward the wardrobe embarrassments.

Very rude, Jan.

Hawkeye is also up and raring to arrow. And he nails Whirlwind with said shock arrow annnd knocks him out.

Yup, this is the part of the book where we’re running out of pages so the villains start going down really easy.

Next, Wasp shoots Moonstone and She-Hulk multi-tasks by punching Moonstone into Scorpion and knocking both of them out.

Which means that She-Hulk is MVP of this fight. She arrives the latest but knocks out the most people. Good job, She-Hulk. Even Hawkeye admits that she did pretty good (qualified with “for a beginner!” which She-Hulk just laughs off.)

Meanwhile, in his hidden laboratory, Egghead is thinking that you can’t get good help these days.

Egghead: “Fools! We would have destroyed the Avengers eventually! There was no need to upset my timetable!”

But its only a minor setback and he considers that this stomp may leave them more willing to see that his ideas are best ideas.

I really hope that everyone pins the blame on Whirlwind when Egghead inevitably has to break them out of prison again to assemble his Masters of Evil again.

Hm, and I didn’t wonder this before but why Masters of Evil as a team name? He has no connection with any of the previous iterations, I don’t think. Weird.

Back at the mansion, the Avengers stand around being pretty pleased with themselves for beating up a bunch of people who attacked them for no reason and sucked at it.

The only sour note is that Wasp lost yet another limo (to Tiger Shark’s deadly CAR attack) but even then she says she was ready to trade it in on a DeLorean anyway.

Wait, aren’t DeLoreans known for having disappointing performance for a car and adequate performance as a time machine? Wasp, why are you getting a DeLorean, you kook!

She-Hulk, who sold her dignity to keep Jan’s friendship, suggests that the two of them go looking for new cars together.

OH RIGHT. Issue started with She-Hulk’s poor lamented pink Cadillac being junked. That’s bookends, it is. They’re the Sisterhood of the Broken Cars now.

So a very decent story!

Stuff is being setup with Egghead, the Hank Pym plot thread is still going, and we’ve got a new Avengers roster to settle into.

Although. Between the Moondragon arc and this, I’m wondering if clothing mishaps is going to be a running joke going forward and I hope not. Or at least let the guys in on it. Let Thor get locked out of the house in his underwear. It is only fair.

To the readers, if not the characters.

Although, I guess that is kind of what happened in the Molecule Man story. Tony Stark stuck in only his underwear and had to wear Ordinary Doctor Donald Blake’s jacket around his waist.

Not much more to say about this. Its a solid issue.

Follow @essential-avengers. Because: reasons. Also like and reblog. Because: similar but different reasons. Selling myself is hard.

#Avengers #Masters of Evil #Egghead #the Wasp #She Hulk #Hawkeye #Thor #essential avengers #Whirlwind is a creep #She Hulk's sweet new threads #f in chat for She Hulk's pink cadillac #She Hulk kisses hawkeye and its terrible for everyone #including you #essential marvel liveblogging

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jj-lynn21 · 4 years

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HOLLYWOOD MOBSTERS Starring Bill Skarsgard and his family ch 2

Warnings: violence discussed, cussing, angst, fluff, smut

ch 1 ch 3 ch 4 ch 5 ch6 ch 7

Thank you for reading @fake-me-out @crazyjam-pot @super-pink-a-palouza @polireader

Photos from esquire Singapore Septemper 2019, Calvin Klein, IMDB and Ejalo’s Instagram

The mud was thick at the cemetery. It seemed to ooze around Bill’s boots as he stood there with Genna’s mother and sister clinging to him in tears. His arms were around them both. He was blank. No more tears to cry. Other emotions buried deep. He wanted to be strong for them. He knew that some how this was his fault because of his family. None of the priest’s words were comforting. His family stood behind him for support. Genna’s Aunts, Uncles, cousins and friends stood on the other side of the coffin as it was lowered into the ground.

They all went to the Skarsgard mansion after for drinks and light bites. Bill did not eat. He really had not eat since the wedding. He was numb. His stomach was sick and he felt alone in the room full of people. He nursed a Jack and coke as people approach him with condolences. It just made his stomach worse.

“Hey,” Valter sat in a chair beside him. His girl, Angel, on his lap. Both keeping a somber face. “We have to head back to The University. Classes and shit start back up tomorrow.” He placed his hand on Bill’s shoulder.

Bill put his hand over his brother’s. “Thanks for being here.” He said mechanically.

“You should eat something man,” Valter motioned for Angel to get up so he could. “Angel made the chocolate chip cookies. Best cookies you will ever have in your mouth. I guarantee it.”

Bill looks up, “Thank Angel. We appreciate your baking.”

She just nodded. They start to say their goodbyes. Alex motions Valter to another room.

“Angel, will you go get me a few of your amazing cookies before they are devoured by others?” Alex asked so he could talk to his bother alone. “We are all very proud of you going to graduate business school soon Valter. We would like you of course to work closer in the family business when you graduate. Do what you do now but at Bunny’s. Oversee the bar. The books. Everything that come in and out of there. What do you think? Feel free to give it some thought.”

Valter ponders the idea for a few moments, “Yeah, that would be cool. Hell, Angel is already a dancer at a college joint. Could she join Bunny’s?”

“Of course, if you are ok with her getting ogled,” Alex said.

“Why should I care who looks at her if she is coming home with me,” He thinks. “We will need our own place.”

Angel comes in with a plate full of cookies. She hands them to Alex.

Alex takes a bite closing his eyes making a big show of pleasure, “mmmm these are really the best.” He opens his eyes. “Drive safe Valter. And keep your eyes open.”

Alex walks Valter and Angel out. He nods to Gustaf to follow him. Bill sees this and follows them outside. Valter and Angel continue to his yellow hummer.

When Alex sees Bill he stops, “You don’t have to be involved in this right now Bill.”

“I think I’m already fucking involved so whatever you are discussing, I want in on it,” Bill was straight to the point.

Alex sighed knowing whatever he said wouldn’t sway his brother and maybe him learning more would help him. The three of them walk down to the beach. Its where they discussed a lot of business. The sounds of the waves crashing on the shore would more than likely interfere with any listening devises any of them might have on in case they decided to be snitches on the family. They had all heard of other families being brought down by just one member wearing a wire.

I ran the deal by The Malforals to share some of our shipment with them for what the regular customers pay plus thirty percent. They want to renegotiate. I said I’d send my best negotiator.”

“When did you talk to them,” Bill asked.

“Before I turned in last night,” He looked out to the ocean. “An hour before I was shot.”

“Do I have the authority to get the deal we want what ever it takes?” Gustaf has his hands in his pockets flicking at a pocketknife with his right thumb. He also had a bowie knife down his left sock, a gun down the back of his pants and another tucked in his shirt. He was a little more than just a negotiator. No one found that out until it was to late.

“Always,” Alex said.

“I’m going with you,” Bill insisted. “If these are the people that killed my girl, I want to know.”

“Just keep your cool little brother, “Gustaf implored. “We don’t want to start a war with this family if we can help it. But if they did have anything to do with her murder, I assure you I will have enough fire power to take them out. When is the meeting set up Alex?”

“Tomorrow night at ten at the usual place,” He turns back to the house. “I’ll let the two of you work out any more details. I shouldn’t know everything.”

“You need target practice,” Gustaf hands Bill the gun from inside his shirt. “It has a silencer so no one should hear us down here. I want to see you hit the third palm tree from shore to our right.”

“Just because I don’t use the skills Dad taught us doesn’t mean I forgot,” Bill checks the bullets in the chamber, takes the safety off and shoots dead on. “I fucked up the guys shoulder that shot my girl. I would have shot him dead in between his eyes if I wasn’t in the bathroom when the glass broke. Fuck, I need a new apartment. I’m not going back there but I’m not staying here. Fuck,” He takes another shot without looking and still hits the tree just not completely centered.”

“Let me have it,” Bill hands Gustaf the gun back. “How’s your knife skills?” He puts the gun back in his shirt after putting the safety back on. He hands Bill the bowie knife from his sock. “Same tree.”

“I can hit the farther one but alright,” Bill checks the wind to be a smart ass and tosses the knife hitting right above the bullet. “Well, did I pass your fucking test.”

“I’m not so sure you are in the right head space for this, but I also think you can do what needs to be done,” Gustaf said, “Just try to keep calm. No one gets hurt unless they earn it.”

When Valter and Angel get close enough to see the Frat house they notice yellow cautious tape around the door. Valter turns down a side street.

“What do you think is going on V,” Angel ask nervously.

“I don’t know other than even if we can’t see cop cars it doesn’t mean they’re not there.” He tries to think of his best options. “I’m going to drop you at your sorority or better yet, we should pull into student parking and I’ll walk you there. I love this car, but it doesn’t exactly blend in with our surroundings. If the cops are looking for me for any reason, I don’t want you involved.”

“You can lay low at the sorority until they’re gone?” Angel suggested, “The girls wouldn’t have a problem with that as long as we shared some of your party favors.”

Valter always had cocaine and marijuana close by for a quick sale. Everyone knew where to go for “party favors” to have a real lit party on campus. Most of the time he was just invited and made a killing selling for the family. There were other salesmen on campus but Valter had such pure shit it was worth the extra cost. And no one dare rat him out since they all knew some of his family members if not all were possible killers. Plus, they wouldn’t get what they needed if he wasn’t there. The campus was going to be practically dry when he graduated.

“No, sweetheart,” He parked and grabbed two hoodies from his bag in the back seat. “I don’t want you involved any more than you are just being around me now. Put this hoodie on. I’ll walk you close to your place. Then I’ll get some other transportation to get out of here.” Before getting out of the hummer Valter grabbed the bag from the back that was filled with money, cocaine, weed and some extra cloths.

They both put their hoods up as they walked casually down the sidewalk. About a block away Valter dropped his bag before pulling Angel close kissing her passionately. She fisted the front of the hoodie he wore. They both took a breath looking at each other like they were memorizing how each looked in this moment. Then kissed again his hands on her cheeks keeping her in the moment as long as he could.

“I love you Valter,” She said looking in his eyes.

“I love you to my Angel,” He picked up his bag, glanced around and headed away from her.

She just stood there shocked. She knew he must have thought something seriously was wrong because it was the first time he ever said ‘I love you’. Usually he would answer her ‘I love you’ with ‘ditto’ or ‘I know.’

As soon as he stepped into the road to cross, police sirens blasted. He was surrounded. As several officers manhandle him to the ground Angel covered her mouth so she wouldn’t scream. He would only be pissed at her if she got involved.

#hollywood mobsters #valter skarsgård #bill skarsgard #alex skarsgard #gustaf skarsgard #original story #fiction #fantasty #creative writing #writing #mobsters #crime family #crime #love #angst #bill skarsgard smut

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butwhyduh · 5 years

Text

Ain’t No Sunshine

Tom Holland x reader

Warning: language, hints at smut

Summary: Tom remembers last summer. This is set is the 1950-ish. Tom’s family in no way behaves as they do in real life. It’s actually based on an ex boyfriend’s family. It is inspired by a romantic movie that I changed I think for the better. I won’t spoil the story by saying what it is. You don’t have to watch it to read the story. For @the-claire-bitch-project challenge.

Salty sea air was brisk as Tom collected firewood in the dying light of the spring day. Warm enough to enjoy outside but cool enough to need a jumper in the evening. He couldn’t help but think about last summer. How he had spent it with you. At his special beach.

Tom thought about the last day of summer. The last really perfect day. The two of you played on the beach. Tom grabbed you around the waist and you both went down in the sand. She shrieked like I was going to eat her, he smiled ruefully. Tom lit the wood and sat down. It was properly cool now. The soft crackling of fire blended with the crash of the tide and it lulled him into memory.

Tom remembered the first time he met you. You were wearing a sundress and sandals. You had a floppy sun hat that the wind of the beach knocked off. Tom grabbed it for you. You grinned at him, noting his freckled nose and sweet smile. You had offered to buy him an ice cream to thank him. The two of you sat under a red and white stripped umbrella, at a picnic table, the beach a stone throw away.

It was your first day of summer break. You were staying at your cousin’s house between semesters at uni. Tom was local. He worked for a carpenter. Tom walked with you on the beach. You kicked your shoes off and picked up shells. The bottom of your dress was soaked by the time you got back to your cousin’s house. She had her own story about a lovely lad she met too.

You had met up with Tom 2 days later. He had just gotten off of work. He smelled of saw dust and sweat. His damp white shirt stuck to his body. It didn’t matter because he stripped it off to jump in the water. The spot was Tom’s. He had found a tiny cove surrounded by trees as a young teen. A cliff sat snug near and on top an entire colony of birds had taken roost in the bleached trees. It was a wild place.

Tom didn’t bring anyone there. Not even his best mates knew if it. But you were different. You were his first love. Tom turned around as you pulled off your dress and jumped in the water in your undergarments. You tapped his shoulder and he turned and laughed. He could see how beautiful you were. Your hair a mess and not a stitch of makeup to be seen.

He couldn’t help but notice the way your smile lit up, the way your laughter was louder and more free, and the way your bra clung to your breasts in the cool water. He could also see the way you watched him too. The way your eyes lingered on his lips and even dipped to look at his chest when you thought he wasn’t looking. You thought the world of him. He was kind and beautiful.

——————-

Tom stirred the fire. The sun had officially set and the twilight of the day was fading. He had all but given up. You hadn’t written since October and you weren’t coming today. Should he pack up and leave? No, he thought. I’ll stay all night. Just in case. You had a pull on him that he couldn’t control.

Like the way you pulled him off the pier and into the water. Your cousin swam deeper out in the water with the boy now officially her boyfriend. You floated lazily near the shore. Your head rest on a float. Tom saw you first. He couldn’t help but admire you as he walked closer. Tom slid his shoes off as he walked on the pier.

“Hello, love,” he said smiling. You pulled your sun glasses down to look at him.

“Join me,” you said swimming close.

“I’m still in my work clothes,” Tom said. “I’ll watch.”

“No, no. Join me,” you ordered grinning. Tom shook his head. “Please,” you begged.

“Love,” Tom pleaded back. You reached your hands up and he grasped you to pull you from the water. Instead you yanked him in. Tom gasped and looked at his drenched clothing before laughing. He splashed you before pulling his shirt off. You played in the water until both of your skin burned from the sun.

Your aunt invited him and your cousin’s boyfriend over for dinner. Her breezy dinning room smelled delicious of pie as you ate a cold meal of chicken salad with cut vegetables. It was cooling after your hot day out. You must have drank 10 glasses of water with the meal.

Your aunt politely asked about each of your date. It turned out that they were friends from school. It wasn’t super surprising, being a small town an all. Harrison talked about his plans. His father owned a boat and he was working on it during the season and would work at the tackle and fish shop off season. Your aunt hummed in approval before turning to Tom to ask the same question.

“I er, don’t have a family boat,” he said awkwardly laughing. “I just work for a carpenter. Not posh, ay?”

“It’s fine. Your family?” She asked. You frowned at her probing questions. He clearly wasn’t from a well off family like Harrison.

“I haven’t really talked to them in years. I guess they’re fine,” he said rubbing his neck. Your aunt’s eyebrows about rose to her forehead before she hid the expression.

“I know where we can go for sunset,” Harrison said. He wanted to change the subject. You places your hand on Tom’s knee and rubbed softly. “Nice little hill.”

—————-

That wasn’t the first or last time I wasn’t good enough, Tom thought bitterly. He laid his blanket beside the fire and added another log. It really was night now. There was no way you would come down now.

Maybe I should move on, he thought. Maybe it was all just a summer fling and you had moved on. You had your studies and maybe a rich city boyfriend. You had just stopped writing in October. The letters had slowed down before stopping completely. The pages back in his room were weathered and wrinkled. Tom had read them an embarrassing amount of times.

But the way your lip curled when you thought you were going to surprise Tom called him back. The scent of your neck when you laid in his arms. Your hand in his when you walked. You walked with Tom just about every evening.

“...Then she said that- that she was going to fix it herself,” you laughed. Your hand swung entwined with Tom’s as you told a story. You were so animated as you talked.

“I could have popped over myself,” he said.

“I told her but she was so... adamant,” you giggled. “She’ll learn. Or she’ll have a crooked shelf.”

You looked around. You were back at Tom’s beach. Your walks always came here at one point or another. You would kiss for a while before going home. Tom pulled you close. His fingers on your side at a respectful place. He kissed you. His scent of wood and salt surrounded you in the dying light of the day.

Usually you pulled away after a few minutes. But you didn’t that day. Maybe it was young love, the beautiful day, or the end of summer nearing. That day you wrapped your arms around his shoulders and pulled him closer. Tom moaned against your mouth as you threaded your fingers in his hair. He wanted to do more but he would never push it.

His tongue slid from your mouth and he kissed the corner of your mouth and down to your neck. Tom cradled your waist as you leaned back to give him better access as he kissed down to your collar bone. His fingers gently pressing into your back as his thumbs rubbed the corners of your lower ribs. After a minute Tom broke the kiss.

“What do you want,” He whispered. His thumbs continued their calming movement. His lips were swollen and cheeks pink. “I need to know.”

“I want you. All of you,” you whispered back. Tom groaned before kissing your lips. He pulled away before taking your hand. He walked you both up the beach to the grass where he had a blanket that he laid down. “Were you prepared?”

“For a picnic I had planned,” he said. “Not this.”

You sat on the blanket suddenly seeming nervous. Tom sat beside you. He moved cautiously, not wanting to scare you. He leaned over to kiss you. He gently held your cheek. Tom broke the kiss.

“Tell me if you want to stop,” Tom said before gently leaning you back on the blanket. Your heart pounded and you were nervous but not because of him. He gently bent over you to kiss. His other touches were gentle too as you both laid together. It was cliche but that’s when Tom knew he was in love with you.

The first time he said it was after you begged him to meet his family. You had imagined Tom to be poor. He lived modestly and didn’t have much. But meeting his family was shocking.

Tom had finally given in and had picked you up for Sunday supper. He wore a nice button down with his jeans. He even had his normally curly hair greased down neatly. Your simple sundress almost seemed too plain but he swore it was perfect. His old beat up truck stood out in front of the tidy house where he parked.

A proper two story brick with a lovely garden sat in front of you. You looked at him in confusion. Tom smiled nervously.

“Not what you thought?”

“Well... you’re family is rather rich, Tom,” you admitted nervously. He chuckled slightly.

“They are. I’m not. I’m... kind of the black sheep of the family. Just warning you,” he said nervously. You grasped his hand before getting out.

Tom opened the gate of a white picket fence. Purple wisteria vines spilled over the fense top surrounding neat manicured yard. Next to the generously wide steps was snuggled 2 peach rose bushes still in full summer bloom. The fragrance of the yard was heavenly as you stepped on a handsome red brick walkway to the door. This was miles away from your aunt’s simple cottage with rough scrub brush and sand yard.

Tom gripped your hand and you could feel that he was nervously sweating a little. You started to feel bad. Was it really this bad? Maybe you shouldn’t have asked him to introduce you to his family. Tom cleared his throat and knocked.

A teenage boy who looked a lot like Tom answered the door. “Tom!” He cried and gave Tom a giant hug. Tom laughed and hugged him back. “It’s been too long.”

“I know, Pad. This is Y/n and this is my brother Paddy,” Tom said. You held out your hand to shake and Paddy high fived instead.

“That’s why you’ve been gone,” Paddy said as you walked in the foyer. “You went off and got a girlfriend.”

“Uh kinda,” Tom said awkwardly. He stiffened as he looked behind Paddy. A woman who could only be seen as his mother stood just as stiffly. The room was noticeably icy. She smiled and it didn’t reach her eyes but she pulled Tom into a hug and he stiffly complied.

“Hello,” she said.

“Mum, this is Y/n. Y/n this is Mum,” Tom said. She looked at you critically. Her eyes took in everything from your simple dress to your worn sandals.

“Hello,” you said nervously holding out your hand.

“I’m Nikki,” she responded. “Please come in. Harry and Sam are in the garden.”

You walked through a formal dining room that was fully set with spring seasonal tablewareand a set of glass double door framed with billowing white curtains into the backyard. Two more young men played a game of washers. They looked a lot like Tom as well. A man around Nikki’s age that looked a bit like Tom who must be their father manned a grill.

“Tom!” One brother said.

“He lives!” Said the other brother. Tom laughed a little. “Long time no see.”

“Yeah, this is Y/n. This is my brothers Harry and Sam. And my dad Dom,” Tom said quickly.

“I think supper will be ready soon,” Dom called cheerily from the grill. He seemed oblivious to the tension in the air. You and Tom sat at a wrought iron table in chairs with delicate patterned cushions.

Nikki sat down beside you both. She smiled softly as Paddy won the round of washers. The other two young men complained of cheating. “So where are you from?”

“I’m from the city but I am staying all summer with my aunt,” you answered. “You have a lovely garden.” And indeed it was with various flowers and bushes growing and blooming in the corners of the yard.

“Thank you. And who is your aunt?” She asked. You said her name and Nikki’s look turned from interest to disdain. “Oh, that’s nice.”

“Supper is done,” Dom said proudly. He carried a tray of food to the kitchen when Nikki followed. You followed the boys into the dinning room after Nikki refused your offer to help. You sat nervously before her and Dom brought in the food. Plates of sausage and chicken and bowls of salad and roast vegetables were sat on the table.

The meal began uneventfully as everyone ate. But it soon dissolved. “So Tom, when are you planning to go back to university?” Dom asked. Tom choked on his water.

“I’m apprenticing to get my carpentry certificate,” Tom answered and you could tell that it wasn’t the first time he was asked this. You even see Sam grimace.

“You could be a lawyer,” Nikki said. “You’re plenty young and you haven’t wasted too long. Your uncle could talk to-“

“No, Mum. I don’t want-“

“Right, because slumming is more your style. No offense but when this summer love spell is over I will be glad and you can finally get a worthy career.”

“My golf buddy knows people at university. I can talk to him. It’s a little late in the year to apply but I’m sure he can make an exception if I speak to him soon,” Dom said as if this was an easy fix. Tom sighed. Paddy tapped his fork on his plate in the silence.

“Dad, I’m not going to university. Ever,” Tom said trying to be controlled. It sounded like he finally said something he had been skirting around this whole time. This evening was not going well. Harry covered a nervous laugh with a cough.

“Oh and how do you plan to take your lovely date out? What about when you find a nice girl and finally settle down?” Nikki said pointedly ignoring you at this point. “Will you be poor?” She said as if it was ludicrous. You felt flushed and angry but had no idea on what to possibly say.

“My nice girl is sitting right here but don’t worry about that because we are leaving. I’m so sorry, love,” Tom said to you standing. You stood and followed. Normally you would thank your host but you had just been thoroughly insulted. Tom was furious. His face was red and his shoulders clenched as he walked to the truck. “I’m so sorry and I understand if you don’t want to go out anymore. I shouldn’t have brought-“

“It’s okay,” you said softly. “I’m not going anywhere. Your family is insane but you can’t control them. I’m proud of you.”

“I love you,” Tom said suddenly. You flushed at his words.

“You..love me?” You asked. You had never heard anyone tell you that romantically.

“I do. You should have ran away after that but you didn’t,” Tom said.

“Probably a bad idea. What am I thinking?” You joked.

“Who knows. Clearly I’m the smart one because I found a catch and I’m not letting her go,” Tom said as he drove back to your aunt’s house.

“Not even at the end of summer?” You asked.

“Definitely not. Forever,” Tom said threading his fingers in yours. A few minutes later he pulled into your aunt’s driveway. He leaned over and kissed you slowly. It was a kiss to say that he loved you. His fingers brushed your cheek before sliding his tongue in your mouth. The sound of the sceeen door slamming broke your kiss as your cousin walked out. She grinned at you both before walking down the street, most certainly to meet a certain gentleman.

—————————

Tom laid on the blanket he had brought. His eyes were glazed as he stared into the fire. The dying embers felt like his heart as the night grew late. It wasn’t long until he fell asleep alone on the beach.

He woke up to the sound of sea gulls and the light of an early morning sun piercing even through his closed eyes. Tom sat up and stretched his neck. Had he really slept there all night? You were truly gone. He had been in denial all night but now it was real. He started rolling up his blanket and tossed sand on the already cold ash.

He heard a sound. The wind covered most of it. He looked around to see nothing. Tom heard it again and saw you running. The sand dipping ridiculously into your sandals, your bag flapped wildly.

“Tom! Thomas!” You yelled and Tom stood confused. He couldn’t believe you were real. “Tom,” you yelped one last time before running straight into his arms. He held you stiffly. You pulled away to grasp his face. You would have kissed him if not for the look he gave you.

“Why?” Tom said looking. You looked surprised.

“Sam told me. I saw him at university. I didn’t know. I thought you stopped talking to me,” you said. “I didn’t know that you wanted to meet. I took the first train. I’m so sorry.”

“You didn’t get my letters?”

“No. You stopped writing and so I thought you didn’t want to talk to me any more. Then he said you were waiting for me,” you said. Tom pushed your hair from your face in the wind. He bent over and kissed you. The kiss that he waited almost a year to do. Something he thought he’d never do again.

“How did you not get my letters?” Tom asked. You shook your head in confusion. “I think I know. Come on.”

He pulled you with him to his truck. He quickly started driving back into town. He drove to his parents house.

“Mum! Mother!” He called and she quickly came from her sitting room with the newspaper still in hand.

“What son?” She asked confused.

“Did you stop my post?”

“What ever are you talking about?” She said frowning. She sat the paper on an end table.

“I wrote 3 letters to Y/n that were never delivered. Did you stop them from being sent,” Tom asked. You stood there awkwardly. Your fingers were clasped with Tom’s. He hadn’t let go since you returned.

“I would never stop your postage, Thomas. That is illegal,” she snapped, highly insulted. “I don’t like you, yes,” she said to you. “But I wouldn’t purposely do that. Thomas can make his own mistakes.”

“Stop acting like she’s a mistake. She’s the best woman in town,” Tom said. You both walked out of the house. He walked back to his truck and drove to the post office.

“My letters weren’t delivered. I want to know why,” Tom said. The postman knew everyone in town. He gave Tom a look before looking your way.

“Is he bothering you, Miss?”

“What? No,” you said confused.

“Well your aunt warned me of him. Said he were stalking you and to not deliver letters to or from him and you,” the man admitted.

“He’s never stalked me. She just didn’t want me to get his letters,” you said angry. It was your turn to grab his hand and pull him up the truck. He drove without saying anything but was occasionally looking over at you. You sat with your hands in fists with your jaw clenched. You almost looked like you wanted to fist fight your aunt.

When he pulled in the drive you almost leapt from the truck before it even stopped. Tom tried to hurry to follow you. You rushed in the house to see your aunt making tea for herself. She smiled and went to welcome you when Tom followed you.

“Why?” You asked. You felt like crying but held it back.

“What?” She tried to play innocent.

“You told the post office Tom was stalking me. Why would you do that?” You said. Your voice felt raw and your eyes watered. She calmly put down the tea kettle and sighed. You wanted her to be angry. Why was she so stupidly calm?

“I did it for you. To protect you,” she started.

“From what? Being with Tom?” You spat back. Tom was mad but this was a family matter.

“You should know about his family. They are snakes, the lot of them,” she said. She looked at Tom nastily. He glared back. “I dated his dear uncle years ago and he moved to go to uni and said he would write and did until he found a new girl and I was forgotten.”

“And that makes the family bad?” You said.

“When I tried to contact him through his family they said he was busy with school when they knew he was dating someone else from university,” she said as if that makes sense.

“You’re just bitter. Tom was waiting for me and stayed out all night waiting for me and I didn’t show. He thought I didn’t want to talk so he stopped writing,” you said emotionally before calming. “I won’t be visiting this summer.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Where are you going?” She called as you pulled Tom out the door. You made it to the car before you burst into tears. Tom rubbed your back.

“Where do you want to go, darling?” He said gently.

“To your house. Please,” you said and he drove quietly. Tom didn’t know what to say. He was used to being the black sheep. His family was regularly treating him poorly. To find out suddenly was all new to him.

He opened the screen door to his modest home. You walked in and hugged him. Your smell that he missed for all those months was there.

———————-

It took a few months for you to speak to your cousin who swore she never knew about it and a few years to talk to your aunt and things were never good. Tom was always the black sheep of his family. He never inherited a thing from his parents. They refused unless he went to university like they wanted. You finished school and moved back with Tom the next summer to work as a nurse. He opened his own carpentry shop a few years later. You were never rich but were very happy.

#classicrock2kwc #tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland smut #1950s au #tom holland imagines

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thecursedvaultchild · 5 years

Text

The Cursed Trio: Adult Snippets

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this, Whitecross.”

“I disagree, Charn.”

She looked over at him. Ethren certainly was not the same boy she remembered and things changed every time she saw the renowned Curse-Breaker. He was dressed in a trenchcoat like she was, but his was more obviously wizardly with its rugged texture and dark red color. Had he…was that dragon skin? Hadn’t he grown up in the Muggle world? Her black coat was at least an attempt to better blend in. He had new scars, one cut across his chin, adding to his roguish appearance. Came with the job she supposed. Brown hair was ruffled and limp. He must have just returned from his latest venture if he came to see her without his hair even washed. His eyes were darker than the last time she saw him. They always got darker. She thought breaking the curse would finally brighten his eyes.

“It’d be easier to talk in the comfort of a sitting room than on a platform in King’s Cross bustling with Muggles.”

“Exactly why no one would look for us here.”

She sighed, finally facing him. With a flick of her wrist and wand, anyone nearby would only hear a buzzing noise. “If you have something to say, say it. I need to get to the Ministry soon.”

He snorted. “This is why I’m independent.”

“And reckless.” Her eyes traced the scars. “Now what is this about?”

Finally, his blue eyes met hers. “Things are getting worse.”

“You made me come all this way to tell me that?”

“You’re in the thick of the Ministry, caught up in chasing shadows. You aren’t seeing things on the fringes like I am. More people vanishing. More whispers behind closed doors. More darkness spreading. I never thought there’d be more danger outside of the curses I face. But here we are.”

“We’re working on it. There’s an air of fear sweeping across the country. Even the Muggles can feel it.”

“Yes, fear. Fear one may not even know their own friends.” His gaze narrowed and glanced at her left arm.

“Are you implying something, Whitecross?” Her voice was a snake-like hiss.

He roughly grabbed her shoulder. “I need to be sure, Charn.”

“How dare you.” Glaring, she yanked her left sleeve up. Nothing. “You think I’d do that?” She shoved him off her.

He merely narrowed his eyes further, letting go of her. “Anything is possible these dark days. I seem to recall you dabbling in the Dark Arts in our school curse-breaking.”

“I’m an Auror now, or have you forgotten? I hunt Dark wizards, I’m not one of them. I know where I stand. And how’s dear old Merula?“

He stiffened.

“You remember. Merula Snyde, your old Hogwarts sweetheart? She’s on our radar, Ethren. And if she is a Death Eater… I’ll have to bring her in.”

“I know.” His voice was soft.

“And you know what I’ll have to do if you get in my way.”

His lip curled faintly. “You became more arrogant when you joined the Ministry.”

“And you ironically became more unstable once your curse was broken. For your sake, I hope you find Snyde before I do.”

“I do too. We’ll see what happens.”

"I have to go. Talbott is waiting for me. I’ll see you at the next Order meeting.” She paused, looking over her shoulder. “Or some time you could come over for tea? We’d like that.”

And he vanished from her sight as she slipped into the bustling throng.

—

He dusted the ash off his robes as he stepped out of the fireplace. So much to do, so little time. There were dead to speak to.

He strode through the Atrium. Passing the fountain, a familiar silver-haired figure was deep in discussion with a pink-haired individual. The former looked up as he approached. The troubled expression was replaced with a smile and a wave.

“Morning—”

“Can’t talk. Unspeakable.”

“Oi! We can still talk about things other than work!”

But Skylar ignored her as he went on his way. And he ignored the displeasure crossing her face. He had more important things to deal with than his old schoolmate.

The man stepped onto a lift stuffed with people. He hardly even noticed the glances he got. He was used to glances. For his hair, for his reputation at school, for his job. It didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, so why should he care? Let them look. Anyway, the passengers trickled down as they went down until he was the sole occupant.

The cool female voice announced, “Department of Mysteries.” He walked out and through the dark door keeping secrets in and intruders out.

A vague nod to any of his fellow Unspeakables was all he needed as he headed into a tall room filled with shelves upon shelves of glowing orbs. Prophecies. Despite never taking Divination at Hogwarts, his mother had taught him a lot. Curious thing the future was. And here every prophecy was recorded and stored. They were real, all right, but the question was would it come true?

The place was perfectly mapped out in his mind and he didn’t even think about where he was going until he stopped. Right in front of an empty shelf. Nearly anyway. Seems the Keeper of the Hall had already labeled them.

Skylar was about to move on when something caught his eye. A different shelf. Behind the empty one. He moved over to it. Feeling almost…drawn to it. A scribble on a crumpled label stuck next to a dusty ball in the back of the shelf. His stomach dropped as he read it.

E.S.T. to A.P.W.B.D. The Cursed Vaults Summer Charn, Skylar Morningstar, and Ethren Whitecross

Without a word, he pocketed it and got to work as if nothing had happened.

—

“Hello, shorty.”

“Just try me once, Morningst–”

“You don’t want to cross me.”

There was a pause. “That’s my line.”

“Well, beat you to it.”

The brunet man slowly pulled back. “What do you want?”

“To talk.”

“Be my guest.”

“Not here. Tomorrow night. You and Summer.”

“I saw her this morning.”

“Well you’ll see her again outside off an Order meeting.”

“Where will we meet?”

“Meet me outside of the Leaky Cauldron at 8. We’ll Side-Along Apparate to where I want to speak.” He lowered his voice. “Where there’s no prying eyes and ears.”

“Okay. See you then, Sky.”

“Farewell, Ethren.”

—

It was night with no moon on a deserted street in England. There was a mist in the air, obscuring and muffling the faint pop! ending the silence on the street. Three silhouettes emerged from the mist as they trekked through the faint light against the darkness. They kept close together. The first of the three had eyes straight ahead, striding forward and leading the way with confidence. The second glanced from side to side with an air of wariness. The last seemed the most concerned of the three, what with the constant turning to look behind, something gripped tightly in their hand. The last two stumbled into the first as the first entered a yard and stopped outside the door. No hand reached for the handle as it swung open and they all swiftly crossed the threshold. The last paused once more, eyes roving across the poorly lit street, before closing the door shut.

A word was muttered and a fire sprung up in the grate. Now at last in the light, one could properly see all of them. The first of them was a tall man. His hair was black though oddly streaked with premature gray. He was removing gloves and a fine coat, revealing the far more casual and rumpled clothes underneath. He was easily the most relaxed, revealing he likely abides in this house. His serious green eyes roved over to his companions who were similarly removing their outerwear now that they had entered the safe warmth.

The second was also a man but with blue eyes dark and copper hair falling in front of them. He shrugged out of a coat rough and scaly, made from something not of the mundane world. His dark brows were furrowed. Scars cut across his face and hands, now made obvious by the firelight.

The third, most noticeably, had shockingly silver hair with loose strands curling around her face. Her eyes were neither blue nor green but a mixture of the two. Unlike the others, she did not remove her coat. Instead, she was perched on the sofa with her arms crossed and fiddling with a curious stick in her hands. A shifting of weight caused dust to stir around her. The two men sneezed.

“Summer! You couldn’t have gotten rid of the cat hair?” The second’s blue eyes were watering.

“Nah, she couldn’t have. You have how many cats now?” The first’s voice now sounded stuffed but genuinely interested.

“Only two,” the one called Summer replied. “But ever since I became an Animagus, I’ve never been able to fully rid myself of cat hair. It clings to everything.”

“You couldn’t have chosen another form.” The second carefully sat on the edge of the sofa, as far away from the woman as he could. She rolled her eyes, not bothering to respond.

“Thank you for coming. Ethren, Summer.” The two nodded. “This isn’t Order business but it’s important.”

“Well, Sky, tell us what is so important we had to scurry like rats to your house.”

The tall man looked around even though no one else was there. Nothing but the three of them in the firelit room with mist swirling in the darkness outside. “This.” He pulled out a glowing glass orb containing a twisting white substance. Ethren frowned. Summer stood up until she too was illuminated brightly by it.

“What is it?” Her voice was hushed.

“It’s a prophecy. About us.”

“If it’s those Cursed Vaults again—” Ethren sounded bored and tired.

“It is, actually.”

Summer bit her lip. “But we’re done with those. We broke the curses.”

“Yes, but regardless, this may give us further insight on our future. Only one way to find out.” And Skylar smashed it on the ground.

A female figure, pearly white as a ghost, fluid as smoke, unfurled from the shattered glass. The voice, hardened and resonating, filled the room.

“Darkness is coming… The Cursed Vaults will be opened again by insiders and outsiders… and with it will come three: one a lion, one an eagle, one a snake… shadows and caster of shadows, cursed and breaker of curses…the foe shall stop and the curse shall brake… darkness is coming… ”

The words hung in the air as the figure dissipated.

“Cheery, isn’t it?”

“Oh, shut up, Charn.”

“You shut it, Whitecross, you are a herald of doom and gloom these days. Besides, we’ve already completed this prophecy. Right, Skylar?” She looked to him, eyes searching for assurance.

His eyes were sparkling with excitement. “I don’t know.”

Ethren and Summer shared a glance.

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“This is your realm of expertise, Unspeakable.”

“I mean what I said. I don’t know. Prophecies can have multiple meanings.”

“We broke the Cursed Vaults!”

“You’ve said that, Summer, calm down. But yeah, and I broke the curse on my life.”

Skylar’s gaze was cool. “Are we ever free of curses?”

Silence.

He pressed. “Are we?”

Neither answered. He chuckled. That was answer enough for him.

—

Fin

#hogwarts mystery #jacob's sibling #cursedtrioau #thecursedtrio #hphm mc #hphm mc adult #ministry of magic #auror #unspeakable #curse breaker #fanfic #harry potter #merula snyde #talbott winger #tonks #nymphadora tonks

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pennys-th0ughts · 5 years

Text

A New Beginning 🌱

– You could have a nice job as a chef ¿you know? – Emilee pointed while cleaning her lips with the napkin after emptying her plate.

I smiled at her compliment and took a sip of water. Lunch went pretty well and after that we had some dessert, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice cream. Once we finished Emilee took a bag and put some fruits and something to drink inside, a light blanket and a couple of cake slices. She picked up her small purse from the couch and looking at me excited, she said:

– Let’s go. There is a nice place I want to take you…

I accepted her proposition asking her to come with me to the hotel to pick up my things first, the check-out will be soon and I didn’t want to raise any suspicions. She agreed, we took a cab and got there before time; I went up and grabbed the rest of my stuff, signed the check-out book and we left. Fortunately my luggage wasn’t big thus it was slightly comfortable to carry so I took it with me to this place Emilee wanted to go since it will spare us the time to go back to her place. We took a bus in the nearest bus stop and headed there, we were fifteen blocks away from that place so the ride would come in handy.

Almost twenty minutes later we were finally there. We got down of the bus and walked looking for a good spot to sit. We were at the Millennium Park and it was really beautiful, there was a fountain and a little pond with a bridge, some ducks were peacefully floating over the clear water and cleaning their feathers while some koi fishes were at the bottom.

– ¿So? – She asked waiting for my opinion about her choice-. ¿Do you like it?

– This place is surprisingly amazing, doll – I finally said caressing one of Emilee’s cheeks-. ¡I love it!

She took the blanket out of her bag and gave it to me so I put it on the grass, we sat down and she placed her purse to a side. I invited her to use my legs as a pillow so she could rest her head; minutes later I was playing with her hair and caressing her forehead. The few times she looked up and fixed her grayish eyes with mine I could appreciate the beauty of them; they seemed to be like two gray glass marbles being pierced by a ray of light. My eyes went from hers to her pink shiny lips and I got tempted to kiss them, she smiled at my uneasiness, sat down on my legs and kissed me out of the blue merging her fingers with my hair.

– I love the coper color of your hair – she said undoing my pony tail once more-. It looks like…

– Fire – we both said at the unison.

Emilee looked at me half puzzled half playful then she just hugged me like a koala bear; I returned the hug pressing her against my body tenderly as if she was made of the most fragile crystal. We spent some minutes that way, in silence, just feeling the warmth of our bodies, the almost palpable beating of our hearts and hiding the feverish passion we were being slaves of. In that precise moment I felt it again and made it all clear, Emilee and I were the same, like the reflection of a broken mirror, like two drops of water crashing against the floor; we were different on the outside but identical on the inside. Our appearances were costumes hiding the true nature of our kind making us blend in so we could survive in a world where there was no place for creatures like us. We were outcasts from a parallel universe where darkness was our light and immortality was our certain fate, where the thirst of blood was imminent and the hunger for human flesh couldn’t be eradicated. The dimension we came from was a vast land of endless chaos, pain and agony but where we could be seeing as the monstrous beings we were. All of that came to my mind as the cold and bitter memories they were.

– Bob… – Emilee brought me back to reality once again-. ¿Are you alright?

– Yes – I lied faking a smile-. I'm sorry, I was…

– You were elsewhere – she interrupted me with a slight but honest smile on her lips-. I know. I felt it too.

My eyes widened and this time I couldn’t hide my bewilderment, Emilee came so close to my face that the tip of our noses were almost touching, and then holding my look, her eyes began changing to their true color. The yellow branching was predominant in her eyes and the orange tones made them look like some kind of sunset. At this point I was even more shocked because she was entrusting me with her most important secret and that made me feel confident about revealing mine. I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed about the bond she was building between us and how strong it was getting the more time passed. I caressed her cheek and kissed her again and when I opened my eyes I showed her what they really looked like, she smiled looking reassured and sat down on the blanket.

– ¿Cake? – She handed me over a slice and took out a bottle of orange juice from the bag.

We ate in silence, enjoying the sweetness of the chocolate cake and the chirping of the birds that sunny afternoon. When we finished eating we decided to take a walk around the park and then the pond. During our walk Emilee hold my hand, she seemed happy and her smile was always present. The feeling blooming inside my chest was awkward but it felt nice, as if a thin ray of sun was finding its way through the deep abyss where my heart was. Knowing I wasn’t the only one of my kind in this world was something good because it would mean we still had the chance to make it ours in time.

The sun was hiding in the distance and a mixture of orange, yellow and violet pastel tones were merging with each other creating some sort of renaissance painting. We were admiring how the sunset was dying and the twilight was opening its eyes once more to a new short life sitting on a bench close to the pond, the dark water was mirroring a full moon as if it had a twin sister ready to come out and play. A cool and soft breeze started to blow; Emilee hadn’t brought any coat so I borrowed her my jacket.

– We should go back, doll – I proposed to her while rubbing her arms to get her warm.

– There is another place I would like to take you, Bob – she smiled shyly-. I promise it won’t take us long and I can assure you, you will like it.

Emilee was aware that that particular smile was enough for me to give in to her ideas and the innocence in her try was adorable. I shook my head laughing and offered her my arm so she could take me to that place.

After being some minutes walking we finally got there. The lights in the park were already on and the buildings surrounding the place were also lit up. When we step on the ground where that huge silver thing was my jaw fall freely, then I heard Emilee’s laughter.

– ¡I knew you would like it! – She said amused seeing my reaction.

– ¿What is this thing supposed to be? – I asked full of curiosity.

– It is what you see – she shrugged her shoulders and hid under the big sculpture-. This giant shiny silver bean was built in the year two thousand four and finished two years later – Emilee told me a little about its history-. The owner of this big “magic” bean was mister Kapoor and he will always be remembered with it. Amazing ¿isn’t it?

My perplexity got even bigger when I got underneath the giant structure with her and looked up; the reflections were repeated many times as if they were lots of galaxies about to be swallowed by the void in the center of this magnificent sculpture. Emilee got close to me, wrapped her arm around my neck and took a picture with her cellphone. She made me run after her a couple of times and when she finally let me catch her I was feeling more amazed than before.

– You look cute with my jacket on.

– ¿Would I look prettier without it? – She asked mischievously winking an eye at me.

My eyes narrowed menacingly and I instinctively bit my lower lip because I knew exactly what she meant by that, she took my hand and we left.

Once the door was locked she slammed me against the wall and kissed me furiously taking my clothes off on the way to her bedroom. We got upstairs tripping on and bumping against almost everything in our path, Emilee closed the door and the show began. I sat down on the edge of the bed and watched her taking her clothes off slowly, as if she was performing some kind of ritual, which was definitely working on me. Once completely out of her vestments, she started a slightly painful but satisfactory metamorphosis. The other three pair of arms got out from her body making their way out of it through her ribs and reaching their natural length. In her face two more eyes began opening, crowning her forehead as if they were amber stones. She didn’t want to lose her human form completely so she stopped half way and bowed at me showing me some of her real features. The soft layer of hair in her six arachnid legs was whitish as the snow and their tips were black like charcoal.

– Your beauty is stunning, doll – I got to say before she shut me up putting one of her silky paws on my mouth.

I let the rest of my limbs come out, but my appearance was very different from hers, my hairs were black and my back and chest were adorned with a big blood red spot, the ends of my legs and my three pair of eyes were also the same color. Back in my world those colors were meant to lure the females into a mating ritual but here they were completely useless.

I grabbed Emilee by the waist and made her lie down; I took some web from my abdomen and tied a pair of her upper legs to the headboard and then her human legs and other pair of arachnid legs to the foot of the bed. I let her human hands free so she could do whatever she wanted to do with them; I figured she would eventually need them, then I began torturing her in a slowly but pleasant way.

The tip of my tongue began tracing an erratic path, starting from her belly button and going up until her already hardened nipples which I kissed and softly bit. My lips played a bit in her neck and she began moaning, my kisses went downhill bumping from one spot to other making Emilee to arch her back like a cat. I hold her wrists above her head and started playing with her pussy already wet; I placed her clit between my fingers and rubbed it gently until she begged me to get inside of her, but I covered her mouth with the palm of my hand and kept playing with her arousal for a couple more minutes, only this time I would rub my pelvis against hers. Emilee’s body was getting really moist because of the sweat and I was having an almost painful boner but I didn’t care, the mixture of pleasure and pain was exciting. I let her hands go and she grabbed my hair pulling it backwards very hard.

– ¿Are you punishing me, princess? – I asked her with a mischievous smile on my lips.

– Yes, I am – she made me bend forward and when I had her mouth close to my ear, she whispered-. You have been a very naughty boy. Now I want you to fuck me really hard, daddy.

She teared apart the knots that tied her ankles and wrapped her human legs around my waist, she plunged her nails in my shoulders and bit my lips possessed by pure lust. The last word whispered by her sinner mouth was all I needed to make her mine over and over again; I was out of control and so was she. We were reaching the highest point of ecstasy and I was at the edge of cumming when she begged me to cum inside of her.

– So, little girl wants daddy’s seed ¿uh? – This time I plunged my claws in her thighs-. She will have it then…

I let myself go and filled her pussy until the bedsheets got wet, both feeling little spasms running all over our satisfied bodies. I lied down next to her and Emilee hugged me with her trembling arms hiding her face in the hollow of my neck. We were exhausted but happy. Sometime soon, Emilee would lay thousands of eggs and our future children would help us rebuild a new world.

I pulled the bedsheets up and covered us, we had a short night ahead but a long life together and we would start living it at the fullest from that very moment…

The End

Enjoy it darling @sunflowerskissed 💕

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thewriterxo · 5 years

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Random chapter from one of my stories ‘Death Saved Me’

Junior year of high school had come to a close for Phoenix and summer vacation had already begun. Their last day of school, Phoenix and her friends already planned a weekend trip to one of their favorite beaches. Bodies always crowded the sand during the hot summer weather and it was easier for them to blend in while illegally drinking. Normally they’d meet up with others from school and just hangout the entire day, then relaxing by a warm bon fire when the stars lit up the sky.

Phoenix was beyond ecstatic to get herself out of the place she called ‘home,’ and into her vacation body. She’d already packed her bag even though she wasn’t to leave until the next day. She had made sure to pack the blanket that always lay in her bed. She never slept without it and wasn’t going to start now. It was a soft pink and white knitted blanket her mother had made her before she was born. It felt to her that it was the last thing she had to remember her by.

Her excitement for school to finally draw to a close seemed to make the last few days drag more than usual. Now that it was officially over she had time to set out on adventures with her friends, and look forward to her senior year.

Without Death around the girl looked to be herself on the outside, but she didn’t feel it. It wasn’t because she missed him but for the fact she felt a sort of emptiness in her gut. But after the weeks that she never saw his figure pop into her room soon made her become aware that he wasn’t real, and he was in fact someone she had created in her mind. Of course it had to be. No one else could see him except for her. The Grim Reaper wasn’t actually real. It was all in her head.

No mysterious angel came to check on her and Henry had been distant. For the past few weeks she decided against replying to his texts and avoided his house at all costs. Her imaginary friend had told her something along the lines that made her feel as if they knew of each other. If it were true and Henry was also a part of the supernatural world, Phoenix wanted nothing to do with him.

For a while she felt as if she could get her life back on track. No more spinning corners worrying if something was lurking between the shadows. She no longer wanted to be afraid and instead hoped she could come to terms with herself and regain the happiness she missed.

The day the girls had planned to leave, Phoenix was waiting for a phone call from Amanda. She was to pick up Phoenix and meet her other friends at Tina’s house. Tina was a gorgeous blonde and blue eyed girl that Phoenix and Amanda became friends with freshmen year. Tina never felt like she fit in up until high school. She always wore sweatpants and hoodies with her large round glasses. Once she became a freshmen her style changed completely. She never touched a pair of sweats again and instead either wore mini skirts or jeans. She got herself contacts and never left the house without her makeup. She was the most flirtatious out of all of them from then on and always enjoyed capturing the attention from men’s wandering eyes.

Chloe had joined the group when she moved to town two years ago. She was never the brightest bulb in the box which annoyed most, except for Phoenix. She was the type to get to know someone before she ever dared to judge them. Chloe’s hair was dyed red and freckles covered her nose and cheeks. She had almost everything pierced; her lip, nose, eyebrow, ears and nipples. She never enjoyed wearing bras due to the fact she loved to show off the two piercings beneath her shirt.

Phoenix ran outside to meet Amanda at her car and after throwing her duffel bag in the back seat she bounced next to her friend.

“I’m so excited!” She grinned.

“Me too,” Amanda stated, holding the same amount of enthusiasm in her tone. “Tina said her older brother got us enough alcohol to last the weekend. The only thing we still need to get are cups.”

“Already ahead of you,” Phoenix winked as she grabbed the solo cups from her bag.

By the time the girls had made it to Tina’s, Chloe and Tina were already bouncing their way outside. They were both dressed in booty shorts and tank tops, clearly ready to take over the beach. It’d been a while since Phoenix actually got to spend a plentiful amount of time with her girlfriends. It was going to be a wonderful trip.

An hour passed of the friends singing the entire drive to the thumping music. The beach appeared on the right of the long empty road, packed with people partying. The house they rented was big enough for the four of them with an immaculate view of the ocean. The sun was cooling itself behind the waves, lighting the sand and causing pebbles to shimmer.

Not even bothering to unpack, the girls immediately changed into their bathing suits. Phoenix had on a bright pink strapless top with her black ruffled bottoms. It was her favorite bathing suit piece do to that fact it showed off her curves and hugged her chest.

They found a spot on the sand to relax and set their towels down along with the cooler filled with drinks. Already Tina and Chloe were buzzed from drinking during the car ride, so Amanda and Phoenix popped open two bottles together.

“Hey Phoenix!” a familiar voice called out over the loud voices around them.

When the girl spotted her friend Todd coming towards her waving, a pair of shades covering his eye, she smiled and stood off the ground to run into a hug. Todd had been possessed by a darkness a while back whom tried to drown the girl. But to this day Phoenix believes it was the alcohol she had drank causing her to hallucinate and fall into a dream. Todd also never remembered what happened. Him and Phoenix talked as if everything were fine from then on, and even became closer as friends.

“I didn’t know you’d be here,” Phoenix smiled towards him, showing off her perfect white teeth.

“My friends let me tag along,” he replied to her, the smile she had becoming contagious.

The boy lifted his sunglasses to the top of his head, his blue eyes glistening under the sun. He hung around the girls for a while longer before heading back to his group of friends as they started to play Frisbee.

Phoenix couldn’t keep her eyes off Todd’s shirtless body. His sweaty abs twinkled from the golden rays of the sun. A small attraction towards him lifted from the pit of her stomach. Amanda caught her best friend staring and elbowed her side, smirking and wiggling her eyebrows.

“Can’t take your eyes off Todd?” she questioned as Tina and Chloe turned their heads.

“He’s hot,” Phoenix shrugged with a shade of pink erupting through her cheeks. Amanda took a swig of her drink and winked.

“You should totally bone him!” Chloe yelled out over the loud noises.

“Chloe!” Phoenix gasped.

“You have the perfect opportunity,” Chloe told her. “While everyone’s out by the bonfire tonight, you can take him back to the house. You’ll be all alone.”

The four girls began giggling, Phoenix wondering if the words coming from Chloe’s lips could actually work. Sure, Todd was one of her best friends, but the thought of losing her precious virginity to him didn’t seem like too bad of an idea. She did know he wasn’t the type to totally ditch her afterwards. And if it had to be with someone, she’d rather it be with him.

When the moon kissed the sea, the fire flamed as the kids sat around. Todd was seated beside Phoenix, both watching as the ambers sprinkled from the flames. Phoenix was still feeling drunk but had enough sense to know what was going on around her. Chloe’s words danced in her head nearly the whole day. She wanted to take Todd back to the house, but she was afraid of rejection.

“Hey are you hungry?” Todd whispered in her ear.

“A little,” Phoenix replied.

“Why don’t we go back to your house and I’ll make us a little something to eat,” he smirked and butterflies flopped in Phoenix’s stomach.

The two walked off together, Phoenix noticing Amanda and Tina giving her thumbs up. The entire walk felt like an eternity as the girl rubbed goosebumps down her arms. She was nervous to even try anything with Todd. She didn’t want to lose him as a friend but when would there ever be an opportunity like this again?

“All we really brought was cold cuts,” Phoenix announced as she stepped inside and flipped on the lights, Todd right behind her.

“Then sandwiches it is,” he replied and set for the kitchen.

Phoenix sat on a stool near the counter, watching as Todd pulled the ingredients from the fridge. She bit against her bottom lip, watching his still shirtless stomach tighten.

“This knife is pretty sharp,” Todd spoke out of the blue, holding the knife he cut the sandwiches with up to eye level. “It could be used as a...” he stopped to look in Phoenix’s direction, his eyes a light grey. “Dangerous weapon.”

Phoenix gulped, her eyes bulging.

“You,” she whispered more to herself.

“Trying to whore it up?” Todd, who wasn’t really Todd, laughed as he ran his finger over the blade. “You know, I don’t enjoy my prey selfishly going around from guy to guy without at least kissing me first.”

“I thought I got rid of you,” Phoenix sneered, slowly inching off the stool.

“You can never get rid of me,” the deep voice chuckled, noticing the girl was about to run. “I’m everywhere.”

Phoenix dashed in the direction of the hallway. She slid around the corner and hid in the closets closet, pushing herself back against the wall and covering her mouth to keep her loud breathing quiet.

“I love hide and seek,” Todd called, slowly walking down the hallway. “Especially when there’s a knife involved.”

Phoenix heard the feet tap against the hard wood floor, coming closer to where she hid. The shadow of a figure loomed through the cracks of the door, stopping just outside it.

“Gotcha!” Todd yelled just as he banged open the door. Phoenix let out a scream, crawling past him to begin running again.

Her feet brought her back to the kitchen so she could escape through the front door and find help. Only her plan was defeated when a body pulled her against them, the knife planted right against her throat. She yelped and became still when she felt the cold blade slide across her skin gently. The pressure the boy put against it wasn’t enough to cut through her but it defiantly scared her.

“Now what did you think was going to happen tonight?” Death spoke through the body he possessed. “He was going to actually steal your virginity? Well I won’t let that happen. That precious flower of yours belongs to me. After all, demons sure do love a virgin.”

“Death,” Phoenix hissed through her clenched teeth. “I thought you were going to leave me alone.”

“Plans have changed my dear,” he cooed into her ear. “Once you decided to slut it up, I had to step in and stop you.”

“But why,” she gritted.

“Because you’re mine.” At his words, the girl shuddered uncontrollably. “And since you belong to me, you will fall under my command. Do exactly as I say.”

“I’ve already told you,” Phoenix began, finding her perfect opportunity to free herself. “I don’t belong to you!” Just as she finished her words, she kicked her leg back and kicked the boy directly in his testicles.

Hunching over, Death could feel the pain the body did and snarled in anger. Phoenix grabbed another knife off the counter and held it in front of her.

“Careful,” Death tsked, still hunched. “You hurt me; you’re really only hurting Todd.”

Phoenix frowned and stomped her foot like a stubborn child.

“Reveal your true form you wimp! Fight me like a man!”

“You really want that?” he asked her as the pain subsided and he straightened his back.

Phoenix gulped again and wondered if she’d regret her choice of words.

Right before her eyes the body of Todd began to twitch and jerk until his movements became inhuman. She watched in horror as his mouth opened wide enough for Death to slither his way out of the body as if it were only a costume. Todd fell to the floor unconscious after Death had finally released his form and stretched out his muscles. He kicked Todd’s body to the side more with his heavy boot and then focused his attention back to Phoenix.

Tonight his normal cloaked wardrobe was different. A black hoodie draped around his body, the hood still covering his face. Dark washed jeans fell down his legs and landed at the usual black combat boots he wore which were always in perfect condition. Phoenix thought Death’s outfit made him resemble more of a teenager tonight, but his towering form proved her wrong. He was still a monster.

Death extended his arm to the side, his hand wide open as if he were waiting for something to appear there. Instantly like a magnet, a tall stick appeared in his grasp, a long curved blade at the end of it. Phoenix had only seen this item in movies and couldn’t help but stare at her reflection in the clean blade. Her tiny knife she still held was nothing compared to this.

A scythe.

Phoenix knew he was going to fight her with this which wouldn’t be playing fair. But instead he twisted it to the side and sliced through the air, creating purple and white smog to circle itself until it became big enough to form an opening. Inside the smog that still circled, Phoenix saw what looked like another world. She recognized it as Purgatory, the place Death took her the first night they met again. She shuddered from the awful memories of sluggish souls wandering the streets aimlessly.

“You see this place?” Death spoke out to her as he pointed to the portal. “Remember how I’d send you here if you disobeyed me?”

Phoenix chewed the inside of her cheek glaring at him.

“Do you want me to do that?”

Phoenix rolled her eyes and clenched her fist at her side, wanting so badly to punch him in his unseen face.

“Answer me!” Death snarled.

“Obviously not!” Phoenix replied with the same snarky attitude.

“Ok, then what are you going to be doing from now on?” Death taunted her, twirling his finger in the direction of the portal as if teasing her.

She never wanted to return to that awfully place, especially if she were to be trapped there alone.

“You’re all in my head,” Phoenix replied. “I created you from my sick imagination. That place isn’t real and neither are you.”

“Shall we find out then?” Death smirked, his lips twitching.

Suddenly he grabbed Phoenix’s arm and dragged her with him. When she tried to attack him with the knife he merely swiped it from her grasp, and then stuck half her body through the portal. Phoenix looked down to the town as if she were floating in the sky. She screamed when Death let her go to fake her out, but then grabbed her once again.

“Fine!” Phoenix yelled, closing her eyes to keep the images of the place out of her head. “I’ll listen, I’ll listen!”

Death whipped her back but never let go of her arm. Immediately the portal swooshed closed after Phoenix’s body retreated from it.

“Good,” Death grinned. “I hope this time you’ll listen. Oh and by the way,” he paused to lick his lips and eye her body up and down. “Sexy bathing suit.”

Before Phoenix could cover herself with her arms, Death was gone with a snap of his fingers. The girl immediately ran to Todd’s side as he began to groan, waking slowly.

“What happened?” he asked her groggily.

Phoenix knew he wouldn’t believe the truth so she made up a lie. “You fainted. How much did you drink?”

“Not a lot,” he responded, looking to the ceiling. Little did she know; Todd made an excuse to bring Phoenix back to the house because he too wanted time alone with her. He was also attracted to her but never took a chance for the fact he wasn’t sure if it’d ruin their friendship.

“I think I’m going to get back to my hotel,” he sighed as Phoenix helped him stand. “I’m not feeling too good.”

“Alright,” she frowned. Todd felt sorry that he had ruined the night but still he took a chance and bent down to her level, placing a small kiss to her soft lips.

Phoenix shocked, watched Todd leave as she touched the spot he kissed. She wasn’t expecting it but alas felt weak in the knees. She prayed Death wasn’t going to flip out about it.

Later that night when the girls returned to the house, they found Phoenix curled up in front of the television. She had to explain the lie to them also of how Todd fainted and returned back to his hotel. Nothing happened between them which left her bummed. She was still pissed that Death had interrupted her and hated him even more for it. She couldn’t understand if he was just jealous, or really was trying to “protect” her as he says.

When her friends headed off to bed Phoenix did the same. She was snuggled against the soft blanket, her eyes shut but her mind still powered on. It was difficult to fall asleep considering she was still thinking about the kiss Todd shared with her. Did it mean something? Did he like her?

“Isn’t this adorable,” a wicked voice jolted Phoenix into a sitting position. She saw Death at the foot of the bed. “Cuddled up next to your blanky,” he mocked her.

“Get lost jerk off,” she snarled in anger.

“I could be your blanky if you’d like,” he purred but she wasn’t in the mood for his taunting.

“I said, get lost!”

She chucked a pillow in his direction which he dodged immediately. He then snatched the pillow off the floor and threw it directly at her face. Phoenix pounced then, running off the bed and jumping onto the tall creature hoping to knock him down. When his body stood like a statue she instead tried chocking him with her arm wrapped tightly around his neck. Since he still wasn’t dressed in his cloak there was nothing to protect him so she finally had victory when he coughed. She kept squeezing tighter until he eventually flipped her over him, Phoenix landing roughly on her back. When the wind was ripped out of her she moaned in pain and rolled against the floor in agony.

Death loomed above her and snorted.

“Funny, you grew some balls,” he growled and reached down to lift her up by her throat. He slammed her against the wall, pinning her in place as the air was sucked from her.

“This is how you choke someone,” he told her then began to squeeze his hand. She gasped for a breath but couldn’t receive it. As her lungs tightened and her face became red, Death released her and she once again fell to the floor.

“You’re a psycho!” Phoenix yelled to him.

“I get that a lot,” Death only shrugged.

“Can you leave now? You’ve tormented me enough!”

“I just came by to tell you something and I had to get attacked,” he stated lightly as if he were offended.

“What is it?” Phoenix huffed, crawling back to the bed where she made herself comfortable against the pillows. “I need my beauty sleep.”

“Well I’m not going to tell you now.”

“I hate you!” Phoenix cried out. “Stay away from me. You’ve ruined everything good in my life. You take away the chances I have with any guy. And you’re a sarcastic prick. I don’t need you taunting me every chance you get. Get out of my life!”

Death placed a hand over his chest as if his feelings were hurt, which they weren’t. He bent down to the girl, never revealing his face. He tilted his head to the side, staring at her angry expression before him. He could see how much hatred filled her eyes and his hands went cold. He wasn’t understanding why but for some reason he felt more numb than usual, as if the words actually upset him.

“Fine,” he whispered coldly. “Good fucking bye.”

And just like that, Death vanished, leaving Phoenix once again alone. She couldn’t believe her words actually worked into making him leave. She felt like doing a victory dance but the tiredness in her eyes grew. She crawled back into bed and finally managed to get some sleep. Without Death around, she could easily do that.

#story #fiction #teen #grim reaper #romance #writing

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thepen-andthesword · 5 years

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The God of Thunder

A short story about obsession, storms, and what happens when you meet a god.

Warning for unreality and a very psychologically intense scene. Also warning for a scene in a hospital. I originally posted this story on the Nuzlocke Forums, but I’m going to post it here as well since I’m trying to keep all my writing in the same place.

When I was five, I saw a god. You don’t believe me, that’s fine, no one really does, but if nothing else I trust my memory and I remember that on a cloudy Sunday morning twenty-three years ago, through the fog over route 103, I saw the purple mane and tiger stripes of a god.

Mama was in the convenience store getting groceries then, but I was five and didn’t want to spend time watching her compare milk cartons, so I wandered out back to the parking lot where you could see the hills that bordered the pond. Wildflowers grew there, and in spring, the knoll bloomed purple. Now, though, beyond the asphalt, a violent midsummer green took over—green grass, green leaves, and if you squinted the right way, even a green sky, made that way by the clouds that almost let the sun through, but not quite.

Alone, I tiptoed along the edge of the lot as if it were a tightrope. Steady, steady, eyes straight down. I held my breath and pretended a circus of thousands was watching. Step by step by step. The crowd cheered me on from far below. If I shut my eyes tight, I could pretend to hear them all.

I teetered, feet hit a crack in the curb, and—splat. The circus disappeared. I fell to my knees, breathing hard, and staring down at line where cracked asphalt met grass, legs stinging, but not skinned. I brushed the dust off and looked up, and there, before me, in the hills, I saw it: a magnificent yellow god. I knew it was, Mama told me stories about these things late at night when she missed her childhood, these catlike beings bigger than trucks, with manes that flowed like water in the breeze. She told me of a bright yellow one with jagged slashes of black that commanded the lightning, and there I saw it before me, jaws like ice and eyes like fire and hair like a thundercloud.

I could do nothing but stare. It didn’t see me, but I saw it, looking up to the heavens and purring, clouds growing darker in response, the world changing from green to a teal-gray. I scooted closer.

The god turned around, not towards me, but towards the horizon above my head. It snarled, and a rumble shook the earth, straight through to my sternum. My breath caught. I leaned in.

The wind picked up now. “Mama!” I called out, unaware that separated by layers of plaster and concrete, she could not hear me. The sky darkened. “Mama!” My voice cracked. The god took a step forward and the ground quaked again, and I curled up small, knees to my chest and eyes on the god as rain began, soaking my back through an “I Heart NY” t-shirt and a jacket that was never meant to get wet in the first place. I shivered. The ground shook. Rain pelted harder, cold bullets on my back, and my lip quivered, I tried to keep my eyes open, to see this beauty of yellow through the rain and thunder, but the world was too full of water, too—

A warm hand on my shoulder. The rain paused. I looked up. Mama knelt there, Mama blotting out the thunder with a hearthside smile and a large umbrella as she wrapped her arms around me, not even caring that it got her shirt damp.

“There you go, honey. No reason to be afraid of a little thunder.” But I wasn’t scared.

She took my hand and we exited the parking lot, laden with grocery bags and Mama’s umbrella. I turned back, to look over my shoulder, but the god had disappeared and in its place all I could see was a world turned to gray and the grass of the hillside swirling like rain.

For twenty-three years, I insisted. Mama told me that it was probably just a cat, some stray tabby who got away from its owner, but I knew better. I learned soon to keep my memory close to my chest, which suited me just fine. Somehow, I was scared that if I told someone else, it would evaporate, and I’d be left with nothing other than a friend who wondered when I’d let go of childhood delusions. I liked to replay it at night before I went to sleep. Each time, I grew more comfortable with the rain, the way it drew me closer and reminded me of how violently I was alive, of how the world was so much larger than I could ever hope. At age five I had been merely curious, but at age sixteen, seventeen, twenty-eight, I felt it along with something else—longing.

Not strong, yet. But strong enough that it wouldn’t let go, strong enough that every time I bought eggs at the convenience store, I walked out back to the parking lot that had since been repaved twice and looked up at a hillside that still bloomed purple in the spring, maybe hoping that I’d see it again.

I think even deeper than the longing, though, I knew I would not find god again in the hills behind a convenience store parking lot. After all, lightning never strikes the same place twice.

Two years ago, my little sister graduated college, and afterwards my family took a vacation up to Meteor Falls, where the water glistened blue like jewels and purple rocks silhouetted a sparkling galaxy night if you craned your head upwards. Nestled within a crater basin, containing enough cavelets and pools to extend towards infinity, one could believe that no other place existed in the world. For five days, I sure did.

We started out our journey with two extremes: a two hour hike in the baking foothills of route 114, followed by an old damp mining tunnel that took us safely under the craggy basin rim. First, hot. Then, blisteringly chilly. I sincerely hoped the destination remained worth it. After three and a half hours of hiking, sounds of our destination beckoned from around the corner, and we turned to see the cavern open up to blazing daylight: cerulean waterfalls, descending from the heavens, roaring towards below, where it pooled like a mermaid fantasy. Purple rock carved by aeons of water stacked into forms too beautiful to describe, and as blue pools of water descended rock formations like an escalator, the two colors blended into a shade of indigo I never believed I would witness in my life. We fully emerged from the tunnel. The air thickened with mist. I reached out into the vapor and spray, expecting a chill down my outstretched arm, but both the sweat of the hills and the shiver of the tunnels were gone. No, the air here brought the sun’s heat and the water’s cool touch together into a harmony of elements. I dropped to my knees. Behind me, my sister took pictures like the click of a shutter could bring her to heaven.

I was born at 6:34 AM, and have woken up early every morning since. At Meteor Falls, where we pitched our first camp on a massive rock ledge, I kept with the pattern and arose with the sun, which shone tinted pink through polyester tent walls onto three sleeping people and one sleeping no longer, sitting up, yawning, crawling out of a sleeping bag and momentarily blanching at the chill. I put on a pair of warm boots and slipped outside. The morning smelled damp. I closed my eyes as the sun began to warm my cheeks, slowly lifting off and forming dew on small clumps of moss that clung to rock crevices. No wind blew. Other than a constant waterfall roar, the world stood still.

I opened my eyes. The rock ledge stretched out for another 12 meters and then plunged into waterfall pools below, rising up on the other side into a jigsaw of cliffs, overlapping each other and competing for space, with water reaching down through each of the cracks and flooding towards the basin below. A single drop of water fell onto my shoulder. I looked up.

A thundercloud arrived to swallow fast the pink gradient sunrise. I turned and scrambled for the tent to grab a rain jacket and the tent cover, which stifled the aromatic nighttime breeze, but by the time I found the cover, clipping it on with barely-practiced hands, the deluge arrived, all at once, like the world had transformed into a waterfall. Too late for the rain jacket now. I sat down and hugged my knees to my chest, limbs quivering with cold, with water, with a sky that had lost all trace of burgeoning daylight. Lightning flashed. I looked out across the crater.

There, on a ledge indistinguishable from the multitude of muted purple-grays, all softened by the rain, something moved. As it turned to face away from me, the purple mane parted and the yellow back grew visible, neon fur patterned with jagged black, jaws blue like morning breath.

My god. Here, again, and in that moment I was not surprised that in this purple place, suspended from the rest of reality, I would find the specter of my childhood again making thunder in the distance. Without moving my gaze, I inched closer. I knew the moment I looked away, it would disappear. The storm picked up, a slash of motion across the sky and I hugged myself with cold as the god roared, sending bass across the landscape, surging through my chest and I threw my head back and cackled at the glee of being alive, of feeling the thunder, of being proven that this memory of mine was once real and had been made that way again.

I looked back at the god. It turned tail, and in a flash of yellow and purple-gray bounded away across rock ledges, footsteps vibrating deep inside my chest as it did so. It seemed to vanish into the wall, and melt away.

Within a minute, the sky grew pink once again. A grin split my face, and drenched with rain I laid down on the slick stone, feeling the earth spring alive under my back, world indented with a wild surge of nature now gone.

When my family later recounted the night to me, all they could remember was a rumble and a flash echoing distantly through their dreams. But me? Oh, no, I felt something on that morning, something that unfurled in my chest along with the thunder, and bloomed into a nearly violent need to seek that feeling, my god again, to have rain pelting my chest so hard I could do nothing but lie down and accept it. Thunder had struck twice. I would make it happen again.

Life zoomed into focus after Meteor Falls. No hours at home could match vibrancy with lightning gods and cerulean waterfalls, and every pitiful drizzle I watched from my apartment window nurtured the longing for that stormy morning. I had to find that feeling again. Nothing else mattered.

Each day, I awoke to Storm Watch radio, I fell asleep to ancient mythology, and I spent hours in between scouring conspiracy websites whose contents I now knew to be beautifully, frighteningly real. Most research pointed to an old tower standing in a city of ghosts, where lightning had struck once, or so the stories said. I planned out a route that would take me by ferry, for a weekend, to this site, where I’d bring nothing but myself, a backpack, and the feeling inside my chest I longed to recreate.

So one morning, I left my new apartment and job down south and boarded a ferry bound for the childhood home of my mother, a city on the coast where she first learned stories of a tiger-god who commanded storms. Finally, I could return to the source.

The sky smelled of static as I boarded the boat. This first leg of the journey was made in a small craft, and the captain told us a storm brewed on our tail, so the rest of the passengers headed below for safety. I, of course, seeking nothing more than lightning, stood at the bow and leaned over the side of the railing, smelling the city give way to saltwater. The boat rocked like a metronome. I relaxed into its rhythm. The engine began to shiver, then whirr into action, and as the pier shrunk behind us, my heart began to beat with the realness of it all, with the feeling of finally embarking on this journey that might mean nothing but really, truly might mean everything.

Slowly, rain came, and with it a familiarity I’d come to depend on. Raindrops swirled like autumn leaves. Clouds painted the horizon a thousand shades of azure. A grin dawned on my face, the same grin I wore when I laid down on a damp rock ledge after a storm and felt the world come to life like never before. The rain came down harder. Good. Let it.

Visibility dropped quick. Windblown cheeks tingled with chill, heartbeat raced to a gallop, and the boat surged more with each passing second, forward, onward. Above the gale, I thought I could hear the conductor calling me to come below, but I pretended not to hear. I hung on as the boat rocked further.

A flash, out of the corner of my eye. I turned around, but saw only gray. I heard no thunder. I let out a breath. Five minutes later, another flash, somewhere in the distance, and I trained my eyes on the horizon, sure enough, seeing another bolt within three minutes and hearing a thunderclap, deep and primal, from the indistinct gray sea ahead.

The storm picked up, and my body responded, blood pumping and vision pulsing and fingers tingling, my hot adrenaline warming the universe. As we churned on through boundless waters, our destination’s flowered beaches remaining invisible through rain, the lightning continued to grow—stronger with each bolt, faster, closer, until nothing separated searing light and the primal boom that followed. It had come to me. For a moment, I felt the sky grow sharp above, and then—CRACK. The sea ahead split with a bolt, close enough to touch, and something fizzed at the base of my skull. My vision pulsed in and out. A shadow gathered on my back, rolling with the waves, with each vibrating heartbeat. Could it be?

I looked behind, craned my neck, and—yes. There stood my god, electrically near, staring through the rain-blurred horizon. I began to cry. If waves threw me overboard, if my life ended here in a storm-tossed sea, at least I died watching my god make thunder, fulfilling a lifelong dream to chase the storms wherever they might lead, at least I died wearing happiness so heavy it hurt. Rain came down harder to match my heartbeat and I beamed, I sobbed, I soaked in this moment of cold and power, never looking away, staying right here as—

The boat lurched and I toppled, facedown on the deck. Thunder shook the world. Body trembling, I tried to look up and caught a glimpse of the god, atop the cabin now, but the world swam and I saw double, two tiger gods with glowing eyes that bored a pit in my spine. I grabbed the rail without looking. I missed. I turned to the edge of the boat, to look this time, but the rail disappeared, and in its place—another god. I gasped. My heart leapt. The boat reeled forwards over a wave. Nothing but slick wood to steady me, I grabbed for the god’s electric fur, missing, slipping further away with each raindrop, scrambling for a footing as I saw a fourth god in my periphery. So many gods. So many terrible, tiger eyes. Instead of disappearing when I looked away they multiplied, jaws slicing blue through the storm. Soon I saw, five, no, six, seven, nineteen, maybe, so many red eyes that nearly met mine, but not quite, never quite, every moment more of them appeared, replacing the world, tattooing my skin with goosebumps, with fear, with electricity, and I whimpered like a baby with nowhere to move, no how to move, I closed my eyes but couldn’t escape, every second more versions of this thing with jaws like ice and eyes like fire and hair like a thundercloud, filling the world with an infinity of its image, lightning in my bones, thunder in my organs, raindrops, so many of them, too many of them, pelted me, shot through my body, I screamed so loud, screamed with everything my lungs could take, closed my eyes and shut my ears and sobbed like the rain, as the world threw me across a deck—

I passed out into an oblivion filled with lightning.

Something is cool. Something is soft. Something is heavy. My eyes flutter open, balk at the light, and shut again. I slowly am reminded of my body.

I take a minute to feel each nerve of it, how my shoulders connect to my chest and how my toes are curled together. I remember the path my breath takes in and out of my lungs. I remember the curve of my spine. I remember my heartbeat. Ba-boom. Ba-boom. Ba-boom.

My body is laying down somewhere comfortable, covered with a gauzy something, and in tensing my fingers, I find there is a tube attached to the back of my hand. I could be in a hospital. Or I could not be. But I think I am.

I try to open my eyes again. The light is better this time, so I venture a chance at sitting up and it goes strangely, blood rushing down for a moment and a spot of darkness before the world settles again. I have a mask strapped to my face. I think it is the only reason I am breathing right now.

I was right; I am in a hospital. North Harbor hospital, according to the name on my wristband, and I do not know why I am there, but I have a very good guess. I chased a god too far and got electrocuted in the middle of an ocean, trying to snatch more glimpses of the divine than one person should reasonably have. I wanted to witness those tiger eyes again and now I’ll have their infinite image forever in my nightmares. Serves me right.

Over the next few days, I learn many things. I learn I boarded a ferry but refused to go below deck when an unexpected storm arose. I learn I was electrocuted when they found me, that I had been frostbitten even before the lightning, that I was expected to make a recovery the doctors described as “almost complete, but not quite.” I will find myself scrambling for words more often from now on. I may have muscle spasms. I will be able to return to work.

The window of my hospital room looks out onto the coast from far above, and one rainy night as the streetlamps below flicker on, I see a feline shape striding across the water. I squint. Its back is patterned in yellow and black slashes and even from up here I can feel its orange eyes staring into the distance. Once upon a time I would have opened the window, called out to the burgeoning rain, called out to the god in wonder and awe, in reverence. Now, instead, I keep the window closed and stare out over the lightly dappled water, at peace with my decision to stand back and let my memories be merely those. For the first time in my life, the god looks back, and we lock eyes, both aware of the other and both choosing to accept the way our lives have intertwined.

When I was five, I saw a god for the first time and now I am twenty-eight, watching it walk away into whatever future we have—perhaps together, but probably apart, bound only by memory and the effects of a lightning strike one far away morning, one that my nurse, even on the most violent rainy nights, refuses to believe was sent by the god of thunder.

#writeblr #writers on tumblr #prose #writing #mythology #tw unreality

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dantediscoversfic · 6 years

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Chapter 40: The Crap Cave

“Dante! You found us!” Clio said as I hovered awkwardly in the doorway of the art room that first day of school during lunch period.

She bounded over and grabbed my elbow to draw me into the oddly dark classroom. The overhead lights were all off, the window shades partially drawn down and gloomy pop music I vaguely recognized as The Cure droned from a cassette player. About ten kids were sprawled out around the room, most of them sporting various degrees of punk/goth/New Waver style. Two corset-clad girls in billowy skirts drew intricate designs on each other’s arms in black pen; a couple dressed in “normal” clothes was making out with gusto in the corner by the potter wheels; a boy wearing all black continually skimmed his pointer finger over the top of a Bic lighter flame; and the rest were eating lunch, chatting, scribbling in notepads or singing along to the music. Clio flicked the overhead lights a few times to get everyone’s attention, eliciting a few winces and hisses and boos from the group.

“Everyone, listen up, this is Dante. He’s new. He’s from Texas, but try not to hold that against him. He’s a brilliant artist. Dante, this is everyone. That’s Raija, Jane, Sachi, Fletch and Kelly back there sucking face, Joseph, Ann, Dave, Forest and Vee.”

I was greeted with a few head nods and finger waves, except for the couple making out who kept at it with sloppy yet admirable enthusiasm. Everyone went back to their conversations as Clio led me closer to the girls she’d pointed out as being named Jane and Sachi.

“So, Dante from Texas, welcome to 'The Crap Cave’”, Clio said using air quotes. “We have lit mag meetings here and also make our own ‘zines and stuff. Raija’s mom Ms. B is the art teacher—she just stepped out for a minute—so she doesn’t care if we hang out here as long as we don’t you know, perform ritual animal sacrifices or set anything on fire. Again.” She coughed pointedly in the direction of the boy with the lighter seated a few desks down from us and the girls chuckled. Seeing my apparent confusion she said, “See, Joseph’s a bit of a pyro and went through a destruction of property phase last year, didn’t you, Jo-Jo?” The boy in question grinned slyly up at us. “But he’s got it under control now,” Clio continued. “He channels his urges into sculptures where he can use an actual blowtorch from woodshop.”

“Blowtorches rule,” he said and cast me one more glance before focusing all his attention back to his lighter and intrepid pointer finger. I couldn’t help but notice that all his fingernails were painted black and he was wearing eyeliner and dark lipstick like the girls.

I pulled my gaze away from him, not wanting to stare too hard and be rude. “What did you call this room? The ‘crap cave’?” I asked Clio. “Did I hear that right?”

“Oh yeah, you heard me right.”

“Do I even want to know?”

Clio laughed. “Don’t look so scared, we know how to use the bathrooms like everyone else. It’s a sort of long story. You ever hear of The Batcave?”

“You mean like from Bat Man comics?”

“No. Well yes, but no. Same but different. The Batcave is this famous club in London for people like us. Bauhaus, Robert Smith, Siouxie, Nick Cave, Specimen all hang out and play there. Jane actually got to go there this summer, that lucky bitch,” Clio knocked Jane’s shoulder with friendly admiration. “So we kind of started calling it that in homage to the club like a year ago. But then the school had this gross mouse problem and their little poops were, like, this constant presence in our lives, so somewhere along the line we started calling it ‘The Crap Cave’ instead. Because that's how we roll.”

“The mice were perfect and adorable, not gross,” Sachi said.

“Sachi, no. Just no. The mice themselves might have been cute but their poops definitely weren’t.”

The two girls bantered about whether the mice should have been saved and kept as pets or if they were indeed an icky health hazard while I took everyone in, trying not to gawk, and sat down to eat my packed lunch. I was fascinated by the group’s collective style: a motley assortment of teased and spiked dyed hair, leather jackets, ripped band t-shirts, corsets and lace, fishnets, heavy boots, winged eyeliner, black lipstick and nail polish, powdered white faces, spiky hardware chain jewelry mixed with rosaries, crosses and pentagram necklaces. Some of the boys were even wearing makeup, which was something you hardly ever saw in El Paso. Joseph, the pyro boy, was particularly fascinating to me. His raven hair was teased out as much as Clio’s and his dramatic eye makeup accentuated his blue eyes and delicate, almost pretty features. The flame from his Bic lighter cast a warm glow on his ghostly pale skin.

Clio must have caught me staring because she leaned in close to my ear and said, “Don’t worry, Dante, we might look at little scary but we don’t bite. At least most of us don’t. Forest over there is saving up to get his teeth filed, but it’s not for blood sucking purposes. It’s because it’ll look badass.”

“Wow. My old school in El Paso was a Catholic private school so we all had to wear uniforms. It’s so cool you can wear whatever you want here. And be whoever you want. Do you all make your own clothes? I love your corsets,” I said to Jane and Sachi.

The girls grinned at me with approval and Clio said, “I knew you were a good egg, Dante. Jane made the corsets. She’s an amazing designer and sewer. I think the rest of us get by with thrift stores, hot glue and a crapload of paperclips.”

“I’ve never really thought about my clothes before,” I said. “But now I feel so boring compared to you all.”

“Aw, there’s nothing wrong with being a normie,” Clio said and patted me on the back. “It doesn’t make you boring.”

“Well, if you want to try something new, let me know,” Jane said. “Jo-Jo’s my twin brother. I make stuff for him all the time. Cravats, vests, things like that. I’m sure he’d let you borrow something.”

“Wow, thanks. You think I’d look good?”

“Yeah, for sure. But don’t let us pressure you. We dress like this because it feels right, right? But it’s not for everyone.”

The girls nodded.

“How did you all know you wanted to get into goth stuff?” I asked.

Jane said, “Well, for me, growing up I loved making clothes and dressing up since forever. Halloween was my always my favorite holiday. I was obsessed, like obsessed. Like I’d start planning my costume and how to decorate the house six months in advance. And after it was over each year, the next day I’d get so sad and cry for days and beg my mom to keep the decorations up and let me keep wearing a cape or whatever to school every day. So when I figured out that I could dress however I wanted whenever I wanted and basically have Halloween all year round and have my clothes express how I feel inside all the time, it was like a big weight was lifted.”

“Do people make fun of you?”

“I mean, sure, dicks are dicks,” Jane said.

“We get all sorts of ignorant comments at school, on the street, wherever. Like…‘Hey Morticia, Halloween is over,’” Clio lowered her voice to a dopey male grumble.

“Or ‘Errr….Do you sleep in a coffin?’” Jane said.

“Or ‘You look pretty hot for a dead girl!’” Sachi said.

“Or my personal favorite, the classic ‘Going to a funeral?’” Clio said with an epic eyeroll. “Yeah, your funeral if you don’t shut up about it. Please. But there are lots of people who aren’t asshats and you can just ignore the losers.”

“Yeah,” Sachi said. “People say things like ‘Oh, you’d look so pretty if you didn’t dress like that’ but this is how I feel pretty and beautiful. I didn’t feel right before. Now I feel good. Right. Like myself.”

“Raija’s mom is super cool because she’s an old hippie and gets it,” Clio said. “But my mom is still waiting and praying for the day when I let her dress me all in pink pouffy dresses again. Sorry Anita, not gonna happen.” There was an edge to Clio’s voice when she talked about her mom that I hadn’t heard from her yet. It made me wonder what her home life was like.

Sachi said, “Yeah, my parents were all worried at first that I was depressed and wanting to kill myself. They tried to have an intervention with all my aunties and cousins. ‘We’re worried about you, Sachi.’ ‘This isn’t the real you.’ Um, first off, yes it is. And second off, I’m so much happier now than before when I felt like a fake.”

“Yeah, people think that we do this for attention or as a cry for help or because we’re suicidal or worship Satan or are in a cult, but that’s not true at all,” Jane said. “I started making clothes for myself when I was ten. This isn’t a ‘phase’. I’m not going to just grow out of it.”

“And finding people who are into the same bands and fashion and movies and everything makes putting up with all the weird looks and comments easier. We’re here for each other, ” Sachi said.

“And sure, we get attention,” Clio said, “because we stand out with our awesome amazingness. But it’s not like we do it for attention.”

“Yeah, I totally get it.” I said. “I think it’s great.”

The girls smiled at me and I wondered how it would feel to dress like them, if that would feel ‘right’ for me or not. I understood what Sachi had said about feeling like a fake, though, and not liking how that made me feel. I felt that way when I used to tell people my name was Dan and not Dante. I felt that way still, a little. Because I didn’t quite know what it meant to be totally free and open with myself and the world and the universe. Not when it came to the biggest secret I had. In El Paso, I felt like I already stood out by not looking Mexican enough, by liking art and poetry and books and astronomy too much. It was enough to blend in and not get teased or bullied for being a little strange. Now I wondered if I flipped the script and really tried to stand out—if I dressed all in black and put on makeup and spiked my hair and embraced my innate weirdness—if that would make me feel more like me. It might make me feel tough and cool and badass for a little while, but I doubted it would make me feel more like myself the way it did for this group. How did I know, though? I’d never tried it before.

I wondered what Ari would think of my new friends. I bet he’d like them. And then I wondered what Ari would look like in black nail polish and eyeliner. I bet he’d look like a dark glamorous rock star. The thought did funny things to my insides.

Then the art teacher, Ms. Baldwin a.k.a. Raija’s mom, came in. She had gray hair in a long braid all the way down her back and wore a long flowy dress and bangle bracelets. She turned the overhead lights on and said, “Hey darklings, the cruel daylight beckons. Gotta get ready for the next class. Lunch is over in five. And you two, yoo-hoo, Earth to Fletch and Kelly! Please rein in your raging hormones during lunch if at all humanly possible? I can’t have anyone getting pregnant on school grounds.” Everyone cracked up at that and Fletch and Kelly turned beet red but finally disentangled their entwined limbs (and tongues).

I had an art class with Ms. Baldwin later in the day so I introduced myself.

“Hi, I’m Dante Quintana, I’m in your painting class during sixth period.”

“Dante, it’s so nice to meet you. You’re new, yes? This lot showing you the ropes?”

“Yes, Clio invited me to eat lunch with her and be part of lit mag.”

“That would be lovely. I’m the advisor, so I’m sure I’ll be seeing a lot of you. How are you finding Chicago? Settling in all right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Ma’am! Please, call me Ms. B. Where are you from?”

“El Paso.”

“Ah. I’ve only been there once. EPMA is a lovely museum. Have you been to the Art Institute yet?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“We’ll be doing a field trip later in the year, but if you are a lover of art you must go. It’s one of the prides of Chicago.”

“Thanks, Ms. B, I will.”

"Now if you’ll excuse me, Dante, I have to prep for next period. See you in a few hours!”

Ms. B went over to her daughter Raija, who had been sitting off to herself drawing in a sketchpad for most of lunch, and gave her a quick side hug before disappearing into a supply closet. Since everyone else was getting packed up I ate the rest of my lunch quickly and consulted my schedule to see where I was headed next.

“You’re in sixth period drawing?” I looked up and saw it was Joseph who had asked me the question. Standing up instead of hunched over the desk I saw how truly long and lanky he was. He was about a foot taller than me.

I nodded up at him and tried to smile but had a hard time keeping eye contact.

“Cool. Me too.”

He flicked his lighter a few times in his right hand and then grinned a lopsided grin at me before heading out into the hallway right as the bell rang.

This was shaping up to be a much different first day of school than I had expected.

#aridante fic #aaddtsotu

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abramsbooks · 6 years

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RECIPE: Purple onion rings—with Action’s special sauce! (from F*ck, That’s Delicious by Action Bronson)

Onions make you cry like a baby.

Serves 6 to 8

The best part about onion rings is you can pile them up when you serve them. I use red onions because they have a little more zip to them. You could dip the rings in a coat of flour first before you dunk them in the batter for a puffier, more tempura-like crust, but in my taste testing the thinner rings are lighter and superior and stay crispy once they’ve started to cool off, like a kicked-up version of Funyuns. A rule of thumb: You can feed about two people with a really big onion.

2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour

1½ teaspoons salt

½ heaping teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Tapatío or another red hot sauce

2½ cups (600 ml) cold

seltzer or sparkling water

2 quarts (2 L) vegetable oil

3 to 4 large purple onions, peeled

My Special Sauce (below), for saucing

Whisk together the flour, salt, and black pepper in a large bowl. This has to be mad peppery. I just grind until the top looks like black snow.

Now hit it with about 3 tablespoons of hot sauce, then whisk in that seltzer. (You don’t want to add flat water, because the bubbles make the batter airier and crispier.) Whisk until you have no lumps and it looks like a pancake-ish batter—when you move the whisk through the batter, you should see ribbons. Whisk in a little more hot sauce until the batter is a nice light pink, like the color of Russian dressing. You won’t taste the heat so much, but the rings will fry up a nice golden brown.

Put the batter in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to let it settle a little bit, then line a baking sheet or a plate with paper towels.

Fill a Dutch oven or stockpot with the oil just a little more than halfway up the sides of the pot. Heat the oil over high heat until the oil begins to shimmer. It should be around 400°F (205°C) if you have a thermometer, but otherwise you can tell when it is ready because of the shimmer.

While the oil heats, cut the onions into ½-inch- (12-mm-) thick slices, making sure to separate the rings. It’s better to make them a little bigger than a little smaller.

When the oil is hot, dip a few of the rings in the batter with tongs, flipping them once or twice so that they’re fully covered. Shake off the excess and then add them to the hot oil just 2 to 3 at a time so they have lots of room to swim.

Flip them with a clean fork when they just begin to turn brown—this should only take a minute or two. Let them cook for another minute or two, until the other side is golden brown, then remove to the paper towels.

Repeat, adjusting the heat of your oil as necessary. Don’t let it get too hot or too cool. But since you’re only making a few at a time, you’re good either way.

Serve these piled high with a side of Special Sauce. Obviously, the cook should keep the Special Sauce nearby the stove and just eat these as they’re ready.

RECIPE: My Special Sauce

I learned to make My Special Sauce about a decade ago at this Frenchie-type place on Chrystie Street on the Lower East Side, where I worked for like two weeks. I was the garde manger, which meant I was the one making salads and sauces and cold dishes and other small little shit. The head chef was amazing—it was a Frenchie vegetarian type of place, whole ingredients and organic, right about when I first started hearing about organic. But the owner—I didn’t like her and she didn’t like me, and she fired me. Even so, I learned four things from that chef that I’ll always keep with me. Number one is this herb and mayonnaise sauce, something he said he learned from his old head chef in Provence or some shit like that. He also made these chicken thighs where he cooked them skin-side down in a pan, letting them brown and brown and brown in their own fat, and then you eat those with this sauce. He taught me how to make real triple-fried fries, which also went with this sauce, and finally how to make cassoulet, which I also love.

Here we go, we’re gonna zap.

Makes 2½ cups (600 ml)

The actual making of the Special Sauce is fast and simple—you just zap it all in a blender—but it is phenomenal. These flavors are perfect together, which is why the Special Sauce is also now my universal sauce, meaning it goes on everything: chicken sandwiches, roast beets, smoked lamb, French fries, and the Purple Onion Rings above—that’s the combination I used to serve as a bar special. I often use twice as many garlics—I love that burn. I will say that the French chef used Hellmann’s, but when I first started making it I used Admiration, which is a little shittier, meaning it’s the cheaper brand you get at the restaurant supply store. And for some reason, in this, it tasted better.

5 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped

2 cups (480 ml) mayonnaise

2 tablespoons drained capers in brine

1½ tablespoons caper brine

Juice of 1 medium lemon (2 to 3 tablespoons)

1 cup (32 g) loosely packed, roughly chopped parsley, tough stems removed

1 cup (24 g) loosely packed, roughly chopped dill, tough stems removed

Freshly ground black pepper

Combine the garlic, mayonnaise, capers, brine, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor. Zap to roughly blend.

Add the herbs to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Zap for a second or two.

Now add ludicrous amounts of black pepper and zap it all until it’s all totally smooth and creamy, pausing occasionally to wipe down the sides of the bowl with a spatula so that you get it all in there. The end result should be somewhere between a dressing and a dip.

Taste for salt, adding more capers or caper brine if needed, or pepper or lemon juice, etc.

That’s it. This will keep in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.

New York Times bestseller Winner of the IACP Cookbook Design Award

This ain’t no cookbook. This ain’t no memoir. This is Action Bronson’s devotional, a book about the overwhelming power of delicious—no, f*cking amazing—food. Bronson is this era’s Homer, and F*ck, That’s Delicious is a modern-day Odyssey, replete with orgiastic recipes, world travel, siren songs, and weed.

Illustrated, packed with images, and unlike any book in the entire galaxy, Bronson’s F*ck, That’s Delicious includes 40-plus recipes inspired by his childhood, family, tours, and travels. Journey from bagels with cheese that represent familial love to the sex and Big Macs of upstate New York fat camp and ultimately to the world’s most coveted five-star temples of gastronomy. And: the tacos in LA. The best Dominican chimis. Jamaican jerk. Hand-rolled pasta from Mario. Secrets to good eating from Massimo. Meyhem Lauren’s Chicken Patty Potpie. And more! more! more!

For more information, click here.

#abramsbooks #abrams books #fuck that's delicious #f*ck that's delicious #action bronson #recipe #free recipe #onion rings #purple onion rings

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shadie-cat · 2 years

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[Chapter 2-12 start]

Have you given up on being relevant, yet? You'll be back, don't worry. Instead, you should worry about the giant robot attacking the city.

Yep, you read that right. There's a giant robot stomping around in the middle of the city. How rude! And it's not one of those car-sized ones either. This is the kind that could fight a kaiju and win. It's not knocking down buildings or trying to kill large amounts of people. Most it's doing is throwing cars but it seems to be avoiding hurting innocents. Upon closer examination, there's actually someone piloting the robot, but you don't know who because you're not there.

There are a few people who aren't running. Out of those people you recognize Red and Blue. It's worth noting that Green is also there. He's trying to run but Blue has dragged him back to the scene. "Quit being a coward, already and help us!" Blue says pulling him by the arm.

"Let me go!" Green is trying to pry Blue's fingers from his arm. "This has nothing to do with me!"

"Are you kidding? Ever since we got here that thing has been targeting-" Blue is interrupted by a car falling from the sky, nearly hitting Red. Oh, yeah. The robot is avoiding hurting innocents, but there is no context in which you could call Red innocent.

Red recovers from her near hit, flips the robot the bird, and pulls out a bazooka. Blue and Green watch as she fires it and misses. The robot then lifted it's arm, ready to return fire with a similar attack. It was probably going to shoot a missile out of it's hand or maybe shoot the hand itself; you've seen movies. However, before it does, a wheel hits it. The giant enemy robot is confused. It looks over to see that Blue has pulled a wheel off of one of the busted cars and thrown it at the robot. This got its attention. Blue always did like attention.

He called out to the robot, making sure it was fully distracted. He quickly glanced over at Green only to find that Green had run to hide elsewhere. This makes Blue a bit angry. The clearly human operated robot picked up another car and threw it. Blue dodged it dramatically.

Meanwhile, Green was standing in a crowd of other onlookers. They are in the middle of the city afterall and blending in is the key to a good hiding spot. Despite what you might think, the crowd isn't really all that scared. Some are filming, some are calling their car insurance company, and the others are just enjoying the excuse to skip work on this fine Tuesday afternoon.

But, the battle doesn't last much longer before the robot takes some sort of explosion to the back. It goes down, destroying more cars in the process.

"Yeah!" Blue yelled triumphantly. Because that's what you say after defeating a menace against the city's roadway safety. Blue is still as predictable as always. Anyways, he looks over at Red and continues shouting, "Good job! We really showed that thing who's boss!"

Red looks forward with a dazed expression and says, "That wasn't me."

The smoke starts to fade as the rubble settles onto the broken asphalt below. A figure can be seen emerging. A man with a mission. An entity that carries a suspicious air about him. A "robber" that has yet to pay up on his half of the deal. Yep. It's Orange. He's here.

Orange walks around in the rubble. He seems to be looking for something. Green walks to join Blue who promptly hits him upside the head for ditching him. Blue then starts walking towards Orange. "Who exactly are you?" he asks. Orange ignores him. This makes Blue a bit angry. Blue always did like attention. This wasn't attention.

A large piece of metal shifts slightly before being shoved out of the way, revealing the pilot of the now long lost giant robot. It was none other than Pink. Orange lifts Pink out of the rubble by the collar of his shirt. Real jerk move, one only done in movies to look cool.

"Who are these people?" Blue exclaimes. He's getting more confused by the second.

"A burglar and a bitch," Red says nonchalantly.

"Actually," Orange corrects her, "we're a liar and a henchman."

"Oh, telemarketers," Green says. Everyone ignores him.

Another voice comes from the debris. It's staticy. "Jack? Are you there? Come in, Jack!" Red rummages around and finds a slightly beaten up walkie talkie. Orange holds out his hand and Red hands it to him. Pink looks like he's given up on life.

Orange takes the walkie talkie and speaks to whoever it is on the other side. He says, "Evil scientist! I have foiled your plans yet again! Face me man to man, once and for all!"

"Uh, no," the walkie talkie speaks. "I don't think I'll be doing that."

"That's because you know I'll win."

"And?"

"It's inevitable! Just let it happen."

"No."

"You'll keep sending robots and I'll keep destroying them. It's not worth it in the long run." There's a pause. "Hello?"

"Goodbye."

Orange continues to yell into the walkie talkie but gets no more replies. It isn't until he's done yelling that he realizes Pink had gotten away. He asks the RGB trio but apparently they had all simultaneously blinked! Darn!

"Can somebody please explain what just happened? And who exactly are you??" Blue asked. Green nodded in shared confusion.

"Don't worry about it. All you need to know right now is that I'm here to help," Orange said.

"Help with what exactly?" Red asked. She wasn't sure what he was after.

"Finding your friend?"

"Julie's at work."

"No, the other one. Yellow."

The faces of your friends light up with realization. They didn't know you were gone. At all. No clue. Terrible friends. Simply awful.

[Chapter 2-12 end]

#the length of this chapter is longer than the wait at a Wendy's drive-thru dang #special thanks to Toby Fox and Niel Ciciereiga for writing good music that i can write to <3 #i hope i spelled ciciereiga right I'm too tire to check #Red said a bad word oh noooo #idgaf #the simultaneous blink isn't magic or superpowers #it's just plain ol' plot armor #who's jack? you ask #who's julie? you ask #screw you #all will become clear in time #the sun is yellow #silly story #chapter 12 #writeblr #writers on tumblr #writing

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starshineskyandthepowerofrock · 3 years

Text

Evening Announcements

Part 10 of Starshine, Sky, and the Power of Rock.

The dreams are getting worse, somehow. This one gets me so bad I hit my head trying to escape my casket. I make it halfway out before reality catches up with me and I sink to the floor, trying to calm down some.

"Is this going to be a nightly thing with you?" a voice hisses from the other side of the room. Gossamer Glade, face lined in moonlight, is sitting up in her own bed. Her lacy eye mask is pushed up to reveal big green eyes that glare at me with pure fury.

I feel around on the nightstand for my CD player. "Can you at least wait 'til I'm wearing a bra before you start getting on my ass?"

Gossamer throws herself back on one of her many silk pillows, her arms above her head in the most dramatic pose I've ever seen. "I don't appreciate having my internal clock thrown off because you can't handle bad dreams. Do you realize I've been getting tired while the sun is up? My body thinks it's nighttime while I'm at school. You're confusing my body and if this keeps up it'll affect my grades."

Ignore her. Ignore her. I rummage through my treasure trove for the right CD. Blood in the Ducts? No he introduced me to that one. Chains on Bone? No he whistled track four all the time...

"But I imagine you're not one to care about grades, are you, vampire?" Gossamer says. "My father says you're doing very poorly in his class."

I could say something right now but... No, keep looking, keep looking... Grave's Dust... Black Morning... No Answers — What?

The clear jewel case shakes in my hand. A once-blank CD stares back at me, the name No Answers scrawled in marker on plain white in my handwriting. We made this song together. We made a lot of songs together. They'd almost joined the bonfire I'd built for my Band of Darkness uniform but I have this thing about destroying art. Plus I hear the fumes from doing that are dangerous and I didn't need any of the animals near me getting hurt. So I'd settled for leaving them all at home. At least I thought it was all of them.

"This has been the worst month of my life. How am I supposed to spend four years living like this?" Gossamer whines into her pillow.

"The feeling's mutual," I say, finally picking a CD and sliding my earbuds in place.

💙💙💙

Assigned seats make sense in this place. I normally hate them but I get it here. Bands should sit together so all the teachers have, well, sat us together. Mr. Glade basically did this too. Almost.

Alright so first day of the first "Academic Week" was already gonna be a bummer because we get no music classes. Not to mention I wasn't thrilled to meet the guy halfway responsible for the demon spawn I've been forced to room with. But then I finally walked into his class, only to find out my seat was nowhere near anyone else's in my band. I didn't feel like starting a conversation with him so I waited for everyone else to sit and found the only empty seat was all the way in the back. And it had my name on it.

I went up to his desk. "Mr. Glade?"

"Yes?" he asked, his back turned to me.

"I can't sit back there."

He chuckled. "What makes you say that?" he asked, then turned around. His smile snapped into a scowl the moment he'd realized who he was talking to.

"I, uh, have albinism," I said. "It makes my vision real bad. I'm supposed to sit near the front in all my classes-"

"Oh, you're 'supposed to,' are you?"

Instincts told me to stop but I kept going. "Yeah, I put it in my application and they said there'd be accomoda-"

"If your sight is so bad, why don't you wear glasses?"

"I-I'm wearing contacts but they don't fix everythi-"

"Are you giving me attitude?"

"No, I just-"

Gossamer stood up. "Could you stop?"

That's when the whispers came. Eyes on me from the whole class. I turned to Star but she wasn't about to argue with a teacher. So I've been sitting back here ever since and I haven't been able to read a single thing on the board. I also don't have a large-print textbook in here like I'm supposed to. And I'm a slow note-taker so I've only been getting bits and pieces of his rapid fire lectures down. And now I can't make out the quiz right in front of me.

No way he didn't know what he was doing. I'm having a hard time believing kids with 20/20 vision could read this, the print's so small. My eyes dart up for a moment (last time I lifted my head I got accused of cheating) and I look around. Kids are squinting some. A few have to bring the paper closer. But they work through it. At least they can read this. And of course there's no multiple choice questions because I could have at least guessed on that.

I bring my head closer and closer to the desk until the tip of my nose touches the paper. The words blend together in a mass of spotty black. I still can't tell where one letter ends and the next begins. Alright this is hopeless.

For question one I put, "I'd answer if I knew what this said." For the rest I put, "See question one." I'll get a zero and he'll say it's my fault but we'll both know what's true.

💙💙💙

For the past couple weeks I've been hearing snippets of whispered conversation from the older kids. "Poor First Years." "They don't know what's coming." "Glad that's behind me." "Aw, I thought it was cool!"

I try to listen in every time, but of course they quiet down and scurry away when they notice the vampire's near them. There's been a spike in these whispers lately. Even Star let something slip.

"Dinner can't come soon enough," I'd told her during transition today.

She'd giggled and said, "Honestly, I'm kinda dreading it."

"Why's that?"

She panicked. "Um, no reason!" Then she changed the subject to how to get rid of my dark circles.

Now I can't focus on dinner at all because the older kids keep rubbernecking every First Year that walks by their tables. Odds are I won't get anything out of Star but it's worth a shot.

"Something happening tonight?" I ask her.

Crescent chimes in with, "Yeah, kids keep talking about the First Years. What's going on?"

Star picks at her smoked salmon. "What? What? What are you talking about?" she asks, not looking at either of us.

"I'll take that as a yes," I say.

Crescent leans in. "Spill!"

Before Star can answer a hush falls over the room and is soon replaced by a chorus of "Your Majesty"s. Kids left and right bow and curtsy as Queen Sunshine enters. She nods her head of bright yellow braids, holding a microphone and making her way to the cleared-out center of the room. Following her is a guy holding what looks like a big, old-looking box of some kind. Sunshine taps the mic and clears her throat to make sure everyone's listening. We are.

"Good evening, students," she says.

"Good evening, Your Majesty," everyone says in unison. It's a big change from the usual scattered mumbles I've seen most principals get after saying that.

Sunshine continues. "You may have heard from whispers around, but tonight is a very important night for our First Years."

Everyone was listening before but now the First Years perk up even more. Even Pearl looks up from her lunch and I haven't seen her act like she knows anyone's there since the night I found out her name.

"Now, First Years, I wouldn't be surprised if you were wondering: just how are you supposed to lug around and care for what can be very cumbersome instruments? When the Band of Darkness can attack at any moment, how are you supposed to be ready in time? Even seasoned members of the Band of Light had been wondering the same thing for years, until the innovators in magical technology behind the Soul Key created this." She gestures to the box, which the guy holds up for everyone to see.

Kids are standing, stretching, some are putting their feet on their chairs to get a better look. A merboy nearby says, "That's what this is about!" to his buddy. A catgirl whispers to her band, "I don't see what people are freaking out over, this is awesome!" Crescent bounces in her seat, squealing to herself. So I guess I'm the only one who doesn't know what I'm looking at.

Sunshine smiles. "Yes, yes, I'm sure all of you have been anxious for this moment, and I won't waste your time with formalities." The formalities would have been appreciated if they meant I knew what she's talking about. "Star," Sunshine calls.

Star immediately stands at attention. "Yes, Mama."

"Would you like to demonstrate?" Sunshine asks.

Star barely holds back a squeal as she makes her way to her mother. She unhooks her Soul Key from her skirt and raises it high for everyone to see. Then she slides the key into what I guess is a lock on the box and cranks it a few times. So it's a music box.

The only sound in the room is the tune coming from this box. No one can take their eyes off it, including me because I wanna know why everyone else is so invested.

Then the top of the box cracks open, a brilliant hot pink light spilling out. Star excitedly reaches in and pulls out a midnight blue cassette player accented with pale pink and purple gems and stars. She holds it up and the whole room cheers.

"Congratulations, Star," Sunshine says. "You're one step further in your journey to being a rock star."

Star hugs her mother then happily accepts praise all the way back to her seat, waving, curtsying, blowing kisses and more. I can't imagine what that feels like. Once she's next to me again and Sunshine starts calling bands up, Crescent and I both want a better look at her new cassette player.

"Ohmigoodness," Crescent whispers as more kids get their own sparkly music players. "The Heir to Light's Soul Player is right in front of me! They're gonna put this in a museum one day!"

"What's a Soul Player?" I ask.

Star explains, "Its a magical device that provides you with the instrument you need to fight the Band of Darkness whenever you need." A wide grin lights up her face. "And it gives you a super cute outfit to go with it! I wonder what you guys' will look like." She gasps. "I wonder what mine will look like!" She holds the Soul Player to her chest, probably seeing something real frilly in her mind's eye. "But yeah, you basically need one if you want to call yourself a rock star around here."

Interesting. That sounds like it'd shave off a lot of valuable time getting ready to battle. No wonder the Band of Light was there so fast to save Star and me after we got ourselves in trouble.

Watching kids get their own Soul Players I see they don't only come as cassette players. They can be MP3 players, CD players, a few kids even get small boomboxes, which don't seem very practical. They also come in a rainbow of pastels and sparkles and cute shapes like hearts and stuff. They sure love form over function here, and back home come think of it, but what can you expect from kingdoms run by performers?

Soon it's the rest of our band's turn. Too many eyes bore into me as we make our way up. Gossamer shoves past me and uses her gilded Soul Key first. She pulls out a yellow and green MP3 player from a burst of green light then goes back to sit with her sisters without a word to any of us. Crescent gets a candy colored wireless speaker. Pearl gets a turquoise tablet encrusted with shimmering shells.

Now it's my turn. The room quiets down like they did for Star but for a very different reason. As if I didn't know before, I'm suddenly really aware that I'm the only monster here. Feeling the whole school stare, I unhook my Soul Key from my belt loop with trembling hands. Far off whispers lick the back of my neck. I'm doing something wrong, aren't I? I'm gonna screw this up somehow. I'm wasting their time, how did I even get accepted into this school-

"Ms. Acdalur?" Sunshine says.

"Huh?" I've just been holding the key here in front of the box. The whispers get louder, like bees buzzing, ready to sting. The key slips from my clammy hands and I just barely catch it. Now they're snickering. Stone face. Stone face. Don't show a thing, Sky. Stop shaking, what's wrong with you?

Sunshine leans near me to say in an undertone I hope only I can hear, "What's wrong, hon?"

I shake my head. My voice doesn't work right now.

Sunshine doesn't speak for a second, instead staring at my key. "That's a lovely Soul Key you've got there," she says. "You know, you're the first monster to ever have one. And I'm sure no one would've expected it to be so beautiful. It makes me wonder what your Soul Player will look like."

That's right, I guess it's supposed to reflect my soul or something. I do really like the way my Soul Key looks, which is surprising. I wouldn't really consider anything about me beautiful, let alone my soul. Well, my ex called me beautiful. But she was crazy.

I'm stalling. I guess getting it over with will get everyone's eyes off of me. I hope.

I slide the key in the box's keyhole, and crank the way I've seen everyone else do it. The tune is as long as it's been every time, but this time it feels way longer. Finally, the box cracks open. I'm flashed with a bright pink flash of light that I have to look away from to keep from hurting my eyes. When I'm able to turn back, there's a CD player sitting in the box. It's glossy black, accented with a pastel rainbow spiderweb design. In the middle is a big, translucent, hot pink heart. I reach into the box. It's really warm in there. In fact, I flinch once my fingers touch the Soul Player, because it's pretty hot.

Kids won't stop whispering to each other the whole way back to my seat, and I can only imagine what they're saying.

Star clamors to get a better look at my Soul Player. "Yours is cute, too! They're all so cute!" At least I know someone has something good to say about what just happened.

Once all the First Years have their Soul Players I'm just about ready for dinner to go back to normal, but Sunshine stays put in the center of the room, even after the guy with her leaves and takes the music box with him. I figure she's just there to say some stuff about how it's the next stage of our something something blah blah blah, but she's still standing there even after saying all that. The older kids are back at it with the whispering.

"There is... another announcement for our First Years," Sunshine says tentatively.

We all lean in a bit closer.

"See, we have a little tradition here that's older than anyone in this room. The First Years are sent into Hillside's Serpentine Forest-"

An uproar is sent throughout the First Year tables, which doesn't bode well for whatever's going on in this forest.

Sunshine winces at the response then continues, "You will camp out there overnight-"

An even bigger uproar.

"Okay, yes, I understand your concern," Sunshine says. "When I was your age, I wasn't too thrilled to go through with this either. But I came to understand its importance as a bonding exercise. That's why, ever since I've been in charge, I've updated it to make things a bit easier on you. You will be provided with all the necessary supplies, including your Soul Player for self-defense purposes. If you do not find your way back to the palace after 24 hours, we'll send for you."

Over the chorus of complaining First Years I say to Star, "What's so bad about camping?"

"Yeah, that sounds like fun!" Crescent says.

Star shakes her head. "The Serpentine Forest is not fun, trust me."

I can't get myself too worked up over this, honestly. My family goes camping every year and you don't wanna know the kind of stuff lurking in the woods on the Isle of Isolation. What's the worst this kingdom of pastels and sparkles can throw at me? Granted I've already almost been killed this year... but I survived that, didn't I? Because Star and I make a pretty good team. So we'll be fine.

Sunshine says, "One last thing about that: you and your roommate will be camping in a team of two."

"WHAT?" Gossamer shouts, standing straight up. Her head snaps to me, filled with rage, as if I was the one that decided this.

Suddenly, I'm as upset as everyone else.

#vampire oc #magical school #magical girl oc #magical girl WIP #magical girl idol #vampire #skylar acdalur

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